American terror suspect David Headley had stayed at the Taj hotel here before the Mumbai carnage while his associate and Canadian Pakistani Hussain Rana was in this metropolis till five days before the attack fuelling suspicion of his link to the strike.
Official sources in Mumbai said investigations have revealed that Headley, arrested by US investigating agency FBI for planning terror attacks in India, stayed at Taj between March 28 and March 30, 2007. During this period, he stayed in Room No 1809, they said.
Headley came back to the hotel on May 2, 2007 and stayed in Room No 314 till May 7, the sources said. The Taj had bore the brunt of the three-day carnage after Lashkar-e-Taiba(LeT) terrorists struck Mumbai on November 26 last.
Rana, who is also under FBI custody, had stayed in a guest house in south Mumbai till November 21, 2008, before he flew to an European destination on way back to Canada.
The sources said this has raised suspicion that he may have given final touches to the audacious terror strikes five days later that left 183 people dead including some American, British and Israeli nationals.
Investigators also found that Headley stayed in two hotels in April last year in Delhi's Paharganj, a favourite of budget travellers from abroad and recovered his passport details.
National Investigating Agency and central security agencies are now probing into the travel details of both the suspects to check if they had any hand in the 26/11 attack or the serial bomb blasts in the country between 2006 and 2008.
As Indian investigators continue to trace the movements of the two men, the Headley trail also took a new turn with reports of contacts between Headley and Mahesh Bhatt's son Rahul but the noted film maker dismissed the possibility of his son's involvement in any terror activities.
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