“He, along with a fidayeen called Hamza, attacked the IISc’s J N Tata Auditorium where a seminar was being held. After the attack, both escaped to Pakistan from two different routes,” the STF release said.

The police also believe that Sabauddin was first instructed to target a military convoy between Bareilly and Rampur. “When he failed to do that, he was asked to target the CRPF centre in Rampur,” a police source said. For this, he was said to have contacted Rampur-based Suhail alias Sajid, who had also trained at a Lashkar camp in 2001. It was Suhail who was sent to Kashmir to procure the weapons, police said.

Meanwhile, Mumbai’s Anti-Terrorist Squad despatched a team to Lucknow to question the arrested men.

Joint Commissioner of Police (ATS) Hemant Karkare said: “One of them, Fahim, is from Mumbai and has a room here in the city. It is also believed that he is the holder of a Pakistani passport. But nothing can be said for certain until we question the accused ourselves. We have sent a team to Lucknow.”