Not only has Babu Bhai confessed to making several deliveries of explosives, including RDX, across the country since 2004, he has claimed, according to his interrogation, of having delivered 20 kg of RDX to an operative in New Delhi barely weeks before the Sarojini Nagar blasts that killed 59 people.

A key member of the Bangladesh-based Harkat-ul-Jehad-e-Islami (HUJI), Babu Bhai's claims have so far been gathering dust but now are the subject of renewed investigation. Top Andhra police officials have confirmed to The Indian Express that a police team is expected to land in Lucknow this week to take Babu Bhai into custody.

If the police want him to help them join the dots, they could start with his 17-page statement itself. For, the fact is that both Babu Bhai and Shahid Bilal, the prime accused in Hyderabad's twin blasts, were working for Munir-ul-Islam alias Assadullah, a HUJI commander in Dhaka and who runs a madrasa there. Significantly, Assadullah's name also figures in the interrogation of Waliullah, a Phoolpur cleric with HUJI linkages, one of the main accused in the March 2006 Sankatmochan blasts in Varanasi.

Says Ajit Doval, former Director, Intelligence Bureau: "The assault from the east and entrenchment in the hinterland are two disturbing trends on the terrorist front. What is lesser known and more serious is HUJI's intimate and old Al-Qaeda linkages. Now that Al Qaeda the world over is in the business of outsourcing terror through franchise, this organisation should figure high on the security radar."

Consider the following revelations Babu Bhai made about his "deliveries" of explosives and training of terrorists:

l 40 kg of RDX in Varanasi in early 2004: He carried this on board Jammu Tawi Express from Howrah to Varanasi and gave it to one "Raju" the next day outside the station. STF verified his claim that he stayed in the name of Amanullah Mandal (name on his fake driving licence) in Hotel Sagar at Gowdhulia chowk.

Investigators now believe that this RDX may have been used in the February 2005 blasts at Dashashwamegha Ghat, which killed nine people.

• 40 kg of RDX in Mumbai in June-July 2004: Babu Bhai claims he delivered this to one "Ravi" outside the Victoria Terminus station. Although Babu Bhai has described "Ravi", he is untraced. Agencies are not clear whether this explosive was used in Mumbai train blasts of 2006.

• 20 kg of explosives in Delhi in August-September 2005, weeks before the Sarojini Nagar blasts: The timing is critical as this was weeks before October 29, 2005 blasts in Delhi. Babu Bhai's report says that 10 days before the beginning of Ramzaan (August-September 2005) he delivered 20 kg of RDX to one "Guru alias Rocky" outside Jama Masjid Gate No 1. He adds he stayed with his friend Qadir in Turkman gate for two days before returning to Kolkata.

• He sent at least 23 youths, from Bijnore, Unnao and 24 Parganas in West Bengal, for arms and explosive training to Pakistan via Bangladesh.

Babu Bhai claims he received weapons and explosive training in Kotli in PoK in April-May 2001 along with jihadis from Malaysia, Thailand, South Africa and Pakistan.

His interrogation report reveals that Babu Bhai was inducted into terror by Asif Raza Khan, the main accused in Partho Burman kidnapping case in Kolkata and later killed by Gujarat police in 2001. Before the UP STF picked him, Babu Bhai was being handled by his younger brother Amir Raza Khan, who is now in Pakistan; Qamar, a Bihari settled in Dhaka's Mirpur Colony, and the younger brother of a Bangladesh minister by the name of Miraj.

What this shows, experts say, is a new network of terror where the brains trust may have links across the border, in Pakistan and Bangaldesh, but where locals are increasingly being used to plan, plot and conduct the strikes.

(Tomorrow: Between the lines of the Mecca Masjid plot)