Israeli embassy may have been LeT target

NEW DELHI: Terror suspect David Coleman Headley’s scouting of National Defence College (NDC) premises at Tees Hazari Marg in New Delhi may have been to check out access roads to the Israeli embassy nearby, which may well have been the intended target.

This is a possibility that the NIA is now looking at, given the discovery that Headley’s trip to India last March was to carry out reconnaissance of Jewish establishments across five cities for synchronised strikes by the Lashker-e-Toiba.

Investigators scrutinising Headley’s stay and travel details suspect that Headley may have well being surveying the Israeli embassy premises on Aurangzeb Road, barely 500 m and a turn away from NDC, or, for that matter, even the Judah Hyam Synagogue, the prime Jewish prayer hall on Humayun Road. The Jewish synagogue is a stone’s throw away from the Israel embassy, and is regularly visited by Jewish diplomats for prayers.

NDC, agencies feel, may have been mentioned in Headley’s conversations with his Pakistan-based handler, Abdul Rehman Hashim Syed, as a code for the actual target.

Investigations by NIA so far have established that Headley’s last trip to India in 2009 was part of LeT’s conspiracy to carry out synchronised attacks on Jewish centres and offices across Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Goa and Pushkar (Ajmer).

His travel and accommodation records confirm that Headley, upon his arrival in Delhi from Abu Dhabi on March 7, had stayed in a Paharganj hotel located barely 300 meters from a Chabad House. The internet cafe from where Headley had sent e-mail was right next to this Chabad House, tucked away in the narrow lanes and by-lanes of the busy Paharganj area. Headley is said to have visited this Jewish centre posing as a Jew.

Having spent three days here between March 7 and 10, Headley left for Pushkar, where he put himself up at Hotel Oasis, right next to a Jewish prayer centre. He insisted on a room from where the prayer hall was visible saying that he wanted to see the holy sight. But in reality, the choice of the room only facilitated his reconnaissance of the
Jewish facility at Pushkar.

During his subsequent visits to Goa and Pune between March 13 and March 16, Headley again opted to stay in the vicinity of Jewish synagogues. While in Goa, he stayed at a guest house in Anjuna village; located right next door is the Chabad-Lubavitch movement’s prime centre in the tourist state.

In Pune, Headley’s lodging was near the Osho Ashram, but not too far either from the local Jewish prayer centre, the target that he meant to survey.

Even on his arrival in Mumbai on March 17, Headley carried out the last leg of his reconnaissance mission of Jewish targets across India by surveying the Cuffe Parade office of El Al, Israel’s national airline. He flew out to Pakistan soon after to share the surveillance inputs with his handlers there.

Indian agencies are in touch with FBI to gather more details of Headley’s surveillance trips to India, both for 26/11 and beyond. Home Secretary GK Pillai said FBI was co-operating and will respond to a list of questions given by the home ministry.

According to Mr Pillai, the NIA probe into Headley’s terror links here will be over within the next four to six weeks, following which the Mumbai Police would file a supplementary chargesheet in the 26/11 case naming Headley as an accused.

Once the chargesheet had been filed, India will “definitely be seeking access both for interrogation (of Headley) and, at a subsequent stage, for his extradition,” he added.