Blast plan was hatched in Pune

Investigating agencies probing Saturday’s blast at German Bakery in the plush Koregaon Park area in Pune have indicated that the plan was finalised in the city itself. “We are working on some leads,” said a senior official from one of the agencies.

A senior intelligence official said, “The city was always considered a target, particularly after the 2008 breakthrough where security forces busted the IM’s control room operating from a flat in Ashoka Mews in Kondhwa.”

Agency officers said Mumbai techie Abdul Subhan Qureshi, known as Tauqeer —  a key IM operative  —  visited Pune at least thrice in 2008.

Intelligence agencies are also certain that Sunday’s blast is an indication that activists of the outlawed Students Islamic Movement of India (Simi) have managed to regroup under new identities.

Officers say Pune has always been a Simi stronghold. The Intelligence Bureau had recently compiled a list of 37 lesser-known groups and four institutions, clearly indicating that Simi members were regrouping in units like Jamate Islam-e-Hind, Students’ Islamic Organisation, Dawat-e-Islami, and Jamat-ul-Qureshi Sangathana, Islamic Research Foundation Trust, and Tehfaze-Sherai Islam.

A central intelligence officer, who had prepared a dossier on the city emerging as a hub for such activities, had pointed out that well-educated youth were being roped in.

“Localities like Kondhwa and Mominpura are preferred for plotting terror strikes, besides acting as a base for logistical support to those who execute the blasts,” he said.

“These activities have continued since 2005, camouflaged by Pune’s reputation of being a peaceful city.”