Intelligence inputs that a senior Pakistan ISI official got in touch with fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim to get BJP leaders L K Advani and Narendra Modi assassinated have set alarm bells ringing within the country’s security establishment that’s already worried about plans being drawn by militant outfits to target VVIPs.

Advani and Modi already have the highest levels of security cover and their security apparatus have been alerted about the latest threat that is being taken seriously, official sources said.

The inputs suggest that a top ISI official contacted Dawood, who was in the vicinity of Zahedan in south-east Iran near the borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan, and told him to target the two leaders.

The security of political leaders, particularly Modi, has been a matter of great concern after Benazir Bhutto’s assassination. The Centre approached the Gujarat government last month, alerting it to the possibility of a suicide bomber attacking Modi.

Modi already enjoys Z-plus security cover, including protection by state police commandos. After Bhutto’s assassination, agencies protecting Modi were told to be extra vigilant during his public appearances and visits outside the state.

The input on Dawood being approached comes close on the heels of another intelligence input on the presence of suspected ISI operative, British-born Pakistani Mohammad Khalid, near the India-Nepal border. Khalid is believed to have travelled from Karachi to Nepal via Malaysia after undergoing training in Pakistan.

The intercept of a phone call by Khalid to his parents in early January suggest that he is “planning something big”. The call was made from a place near the Gorakhpur border in Uttar Pradesh. He is said to have sought his “parents’ blessings for a big task”. The UP police, official sources said, have been informed about the telephone number from which the call came.