Investigators have found footprints of US terror suspect David Headley in the Pune blast and hope to get a breakthrough "very soon" following intensive questioning of some people, mostly locals.
Highly placed sources today said the plan of exploding the high-intensity bomb at the German Bakery was executed by some local terror modules with help from outside Maharashtra.
Sleuths have fanned out to a few places outside the state, including Bangalore, to question some people and they were expecting a breakthrough "very soon".
"Investigation is on right track. More or less we have identified the people behind the blast. It has some links with Headley's visit to Pune," a senior official said.
Headley had in 2008-2009 twice visited the Osho Ashram located near the German Bakery in Koregaon Park. The terror attack at the famous eatery last Saturday left 11 persons dead and injured over 50. The Pakistani-American is currently in US custody in connection with the Mumbai terror attack.
According to the investigators, Headley had moved to Pune from Goa to carry out a recee of the area around Koregaon Park. The area is also home to a Jewish prayer house.
A CCTV footage of the area outside the Bakery has thrown no major leads for investigators as a clear coverage of the area outside was available only for the time around 1830 hours--before the attack-- when two men were seen coming from opposite directions and exchanging greetings for some 10 seconds after which they left.
Police also questioned around 30 people who had a history of association with banned SIMI organisation but have drawn a blank so far, the sources said.
They said records of around 1.10 lakh calls from all the cell towers around the scene of incident were being examined by the techincal teams of security agencies.
The explosive material -- RDX and Ammonium Nitrate -- did not bear the signature of earlier blasts, including at Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Delhi and the "packing" of explosive material is of such a high quality that even forensic experts have not been able to pick a single clue about its timer.
The toll in the blast that rocked the Pune eatery rose to 11 after 21-year-old Delhi youth Aditya Mehta succumbed to his injuries last night. PTI
