New Delhi, Nov 15 (IANS) Delhi Police Sunday carried out extensive searches in cyber cafes and hotels in Paharganj area of central Delhi where suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative David Headley had stayed earlier this year.
‘An extensive search was carried out in the cyber cafes, hotels and telephone booths in the Paharganj area,’ said a police source.
However, it is not clear whether these searches were in connection with Headley, who was arrested in the US last month. He had stayed in two hotels in Paharganj for three days.
Besides routine checks, the police reportedly sought details from the owners of the cyber cafes, hotels and telephone booths about their customers during March 1-15 this year.
Headley and his alleged accomplice Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Canadian citizen of Pakistani origin, were arrested in the US last month by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The FBI later informed the Indian intelligence agencies that the two were plotting terror attacks against India and the National Defence College in New Delhi was on their hit list.
However, when asked for confirmation about the police searches in Paharganj apparently in the Headley case, a Delhi Police officer said: ‘It is a routine affair. We regularly check the details of their customers as it (Paharganj) is a favourite among foreign tourists.’
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has registered a case against Headley and Rana and has started probing their connection with last year’s terror attacks in India, including the 26/11 Mumbai carnage.
Another senior officer of the Delhi Police said: ‘The Headley case is being investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). We are not doing anything in this.’
On March 6, Headley is reported to have stayed at Hotel Holiday International and then for the next two days at Hotel Anand, from where he checked out, saying he was leaving for Rajasthan.
On Friday, Delhi Police’s Special Cell team visited both hotels.
Security agencies in India went into a tizzy after it was known that Headley, who visited India nine times over a three-year period since 2006, was planning major terror strikes in the country on behalf of the LeT.
Headley is said to have operated a visa agency in Mumbai for almost two years until July 2008 and had travelled to various Indian cities, including Jaipur, Delhi and Bangalore, which were rattled by bomb blasts last year.
