New Delhi, February 15
Even as India was yet to officially point an accusing finger at Pakistan for Saturday night’s Pune blast, investigators are trying to piece together information as a strong suspicion was emerging about the role of persons based across the border for having directed the blasts using their sleeper cells here.

Investigating agencies are looking at Indian Mujahideen's links with Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and its front organisation Jamaat-ud Dawa (JuD). The footage of JuD’s recent rally in Lahore, addressed by Abdur Rehman Makki, was being examined. He had warned that Pune was a “fair target”. Fugitive IM leaders Bhatkal brothers (Riyaz and Iqbal), Mufti Sufiyan and Rasool Parti are being sheltered in Karachi.

The link of the Indian Mujahideen has also got stronger with the clues retrieved from the blast site at German bakery so far. In what could be vital clues, CCTV footage from a luxury hotel opposite the German Bakery blast site was being examined and it showed two youth entering the bakery with a rucksack.

In the past, arrested cadres of the Indian Mujahideen have disclosed that they were in Pakistan and were shown videos surveyed by David Headley. One of the videos was of the Osho Ashram, located barely a km away from the blast site.

Actually, investigators believe that the bomb may have been meant for either the Jewish worship centre -- Chabad House -- located a few metres away from the bakery or the Osho Ashram. The German bakery may have just been a stopover point. A second group of militants was scheduled to arrive and pick up the bag from the bakery. Two militants had carried the bag into the bakery.

The investigators are also looking at the mobile calls made in the vicinity of the area to scan out any suspicious numbers. The Chabad House in Pune had been under surveillance by David Headley.

Sources said brainwashing India Muslim youth into believing that India was some tyrant country was part of Pakistan's ‘Karachi Project’.

“David Headley has told investigators that the ‘Karachi Project’ is meant to brainwash Indian groups inside Pakistan so that they come to India and carry out attacks. Pakistan doesn't want its citizens to be held accountable for terror attacks,” a Home ministry functionary has said. The project also involves LeT, Indian jihadis, besides serving and retired officers of the Pakistan army.

Sources in security agencies believe that the ‘Southern Brigade’ of Indian Mujahideen, which comprises absconding IM terrorists like Abdus Subhan Qureshi and Mohsin Chaudhary (a Pune resident), could have been behind the explosion.

The ministry has also decided that there will be no partial disclosures as this might harm the investigation.