Indian Mujahideen’s preferred base: Pune

If it is the Indian Mujahideen (IM) in its new avatar behind the blasts, then the choice of Pune is not surprising. Pune has long been on the radar of intelligence agencies for IM's activities. Pune was used as a base by Bhatkal brothers — Iqbal and Riyaz, considered top IM leaders.

Iqbal was a member of Tablighi Jamaat (TJ) and used to come to Pune to preach at city mosques. Iqbal and Riyaz also 'talent hunted' at these mosques. In fact, Pune-based techie Mohammad Mansoor Asghar Peerbhoy, accused in the 2008 blasts, spoke about the brothers' techniques.

After his visit to Mecca, Peerbhoy joined a Quran Foundation course to learn Arabic. During the course he met Asif Bashir Sheikh who was a protégé of the brothers.

In October 2006, during the last days of Ramzan, Peerbhoy stayed at Jama Masjid, Pune. There he again met Asif. He said it was at this meeting that Asif started motivating him towards jihad. In February or March 2007, Asif introduced Peerbhoy to the Bhatkals at his house in Kandava, Pune.

According to Peerbhoy, Riyaz told him that his knowledge of computers would help them in the cause of jihad. Riyaz gave him two tasks — to find a secure internet chat programme by encryption, and to find out how much data could be recovered from a hard disk once deleted. Riyaz also wanted Peerbhoy to make an IM website. However, when Peerbhoy told him government agencies could track them through the internet protocol address (IP), Riyaz discarded the idea.

Peerbhoy said the Bhatkal brothers were extremely suspicious by nature. On one of his visits to the US, Peerbhoy was asked to bring back a Radio Frequency Signal Detector for detecting voice recorders and a Spy Camera Detector to find secret cameras installed in a room. Peerbhoy also provided details about the lectures on jihad given by the Bhatkal brothers in Pune, in which he and other IM members used to participate.

These lectures used take place once or twice a week.He said the brothers stayed at a rented accommodation in Kondava during this time. It was in August 2008 that they shifted base to Mangalore.

Almost all other members - Asif Bashir Sheikh, Mubeen Kadar Sheikh and Akbar Chaudhary —  of IM's 'media cell' were from Pune. Aniq Sayed, another IM operative arrested by Mumbai police, is also from Pune.

According to another IM operative Qayamudeen Kapadia, the conspiracy to conduct bomb blasts in Delhi was hatched in Pune. He had stayed in Pune for 10 days in August 2008 to take part in the IM meetings.