‘Headley at the Taj,Rana across India’

And that once in 2008 Rana came to India using this name when he travelled extensively across the country from top to bottom on the map and visited several places in the North,South and West.

Headley is believed to have accompanied Rana on some of these trips. Investigators are exploring the possibility of them using these trips as recce missions, sources said,and their links,if any,to the 26/11 attacks.

Headley,alleged to have run a visa consultation firm from an office in A C Market in South Mumbais Tardeo area,is said to have stayed at the Taj twice in the first half of 2007,sources said.

Agency has already registered a case against Headley and Rana for allegedly plotting terror attacks in India.

Investigators have found out that of the seven Indian cities Headley visited between 2006-09,there are instances of him having flown into a city but not taking a flight out.

The Indian Express reported today that the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terror Squad is probing leads that Headley had contacts with Indian Mujahideen (IM) operatives involved in the 2008 serial blasts in Delhi.

This news came as investigating agencies confirmed that the Rahul mentioned in e-mail exchanges between Headley and his Pak handlers is Bollywood filmmaker Mahesh Bhatts 25-year-old son Rahul Bhatt and that he had been questioned in this connection. They said that Rahul had come to them on his own and told them about having known Headley.

Rahuls uncle and Bollywood producer Mukesh Bhatt told reporters his nephew met Headley in a gym. The Bhatt family said Headley was no more than Rahuls mere acquaintance and had received no assistance from him.

I think the onus is on the national security agencies to answer this pointed question (about Rahul), father Mahesh Bhatt said. I feel,as a responsible citizen,I should not indulge in a game of trivialising such a serious issue.

Said Mukesh Bhatt: He (Rahul) just happened to bump into this character in a gym just like anybody can bump into anybody and there is nothing beyond that at all.

Meanwhile,a real estate agent,Sunny Singh,presented himself to the media today claiming that Headley approached him as recently as just over a month ago looking to rent an apartment in Bandra. He came with a woman called Anna whom he introduced as his wife. He told me he had come with a reference from another woman named Marina, Singh claimed. He was willing to pay around Rs 50,000 and a deal was nearly final but things did not work out when he refused to give his visa documents and a letter from his employer.

Police sources said they could not confirm Singhs version of events and needed to verify it.

Having established that Headley flew into India from Abu Dhabi at least once and made several phone calls to people there,the government is planning to send a team of officials to Abu Dhabi to explore these leads.

According to the FBI,the 48-year old Rana was born in Pakistan and is now a Canadian citizen who primarily resides in Chicago. Rana,who has received medical training,is the owner of several businesses,including First World Immigration Services,which has offices in Chicago,New York,and Toronto.

He also owns a farm in Kinsman,Illinois,which is used to provide halal meat for Muslim customers,as well as a grocery store in Chicago, states the criminal complaint filed by the FBI in the court. The FBI complaint states that a Yahoo group for graduates of a military school in the Pak town of Hasan Abdal the group calls itself abdalians show that Headley and Rana participated in the group and referred to their attendance at that school.

The FBI has charged Rana with providing material support to a foreign terrorism conspiracy that involved Headley and at least three other specific individuals in Pakistan.