‘Headley had surveyed area near Pune blast site’

NEW DELHI - Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative David Coleman Headley had surveyed the Osho ashram area, which is 200 yards from the German Bakery where a bomb blast Saturday evening killed eight people, including a foreigner, Home Secretary G.K. Pillai said.

“It may be noted that Osho Ashram is 200 yards from the bakery and was one of the sites surveyed by LeT operative David Headley,” Pillai told reporters here after chairing a high-level meeting of senior officials in the wake of the Pune blast. Headley, a suspect in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, is currently in a US jail.

Pillai said the central agencies had informed the Maharashtra Police on October 12, 2009 about Headley’s visit.

“According to information received from the state police and Intelligence Bureau, a bomb explosion ocurred at the German Bakery around 7.30 pm,” Pillai said.

He said it appeared that an unattended packet was noticed by one of the waiters at the bakery and apparently attempted to open it when the blast took place.

Pillai said eight people, including a foreigner, were killled and 32 injured in the blast, Pillai said, adding the nationality of the foreigner had not been ascertained.

“Maharashtra Police, the state’s anti-terrrorim squad and forensic experts from the state government were at the site to conduct investigations,” the home secretary said.

He said a team of forensic experts from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was being airlifted to Pune to assist the state police in investigations.

Pillai said that the Maharashtra government had issued an advisory in the wake of blasts and an advisory had also been issued by the home ministry warning the people not to open any unidentified objects and report all such cases to the police.

He said union Home Minister P. Chidamabaram was continously reviewing the situation from Tamil Nadu, where he currently was.