15 February,2010 11:52 AM IST | | Prawesh Lama
Almost three months before terror came calling near this building in Pune, a call alerted the residents of imminent danger. Pune police sources tell MiD DAY security was provided here after they asked for it A threat call was reportedly made to the residents of this Jewish centre by a terror group, warning of a blast. Home Minister P Chidambaram has renewed the demand for access to LeT operative David Headley, currently under custody in the US. Pune was one of the places Headley had surveyed. The Koregaon Park area, the Chabad House and Osho Ashram in the vicinity of the targeted eatery was known to have been recced by Headley. Jamaat-ud-Daawa leader Hafiz Abdur Rahman Makki had mentioned about attacks on Indian cities, including Pune at the Kashmir Solidarity Day conference in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir on February 4.
It was not just the Union Home Minister and the intelligence agencies that knew of the terror plans to attack
the Chabad House, near the German Bakery in Pune.
A threat call was reportedly made more than three months ago to the residents of the Jewish centre by some terror group, warning of a blast.
Pune police sources told MiD DAY that the caller threatened to blow up the centre, following which the residents demanded security from senior police officials.
u00a0"Our senior officers asked us to provide security to Chabad House in Koregaon Park in October-November. We had given them full-proof security," Sudhakar Kate, Police Inspector (Crime) of Bund garden police station, told MiD DAY.
Kate, however, refused to comment why security was provided to the Jewish centre. Pune Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh, also, refused to admit that residents of Chabad House ever approached the police for security.
Even the Rabbi Betzalel Kupchick was non-committal. "Our centre got security some months ago. We have not asked for police cover. I am not sure why security was provided to the centre."
Ever since the Jewish centre at Nariman Point was targeted during the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai, intelligence agencies have been warning the state governments of anti-Semitic designs. Or so, Mr Chidambaram claims.
Security agencies have also not ruled out the possibility of terror strikes by Pakistan- based terror outfit Lashker-e-Taiba at the places visited by David Headley, an American terror suspect arrested in the US last October.
Headley's trail
Headley's last visit was believed to finalise synchronised terror strikes on Jewish homes located in five cities, at the instance of Lashker-e-Taiba.
Headley had surveyed Israeli airlines -- El AI -- office located at Cuffe Parade in March this year, before moving to the national capital where he chose to stay in a small hotel at Paharganj area adjacent to a Chabad House, barely 300 metres from the hotel -- De Holiday Inn, reports say.
He later travelled to Pushkar on the outskirts of Ajmer in Rajasthan where he insisted on a room opposite a Jewish prayer centre claiming he was a Jew and wanted a "holy sight". Headley later moved to Goa where he stayed at a guest house located in Anjuna village along the coast of Arabian Sea before proceeding towards Pune where he surveyed the area around Koregaon Park -- a place where the blast took place.
