Sachin Tendulkar, Shah
Rukh Khan. target on Lashkar-e-Taiba
NEW DELHI: Maharashtra Police's
decision to step up security for prominent persons, including Sachin Tendulkar,
Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan, was prompted by a specific plot to
target icons as part of a larger jehadi destabilisation plot.
Intelligence sources in the
Capital indicated that the plan to target Tendulkar and other eminent personalities
was revealed during the interrogation of the suspected terrorists rounded
up as part of the probe into the serial blasts.
"Of those picked up, 3-4
have made crucial disclosures", said a senior source. He also said that
those who have been cooperating have given important leads on the attack
on Mumbai.
Union minister of state for
home, Sriprakash Jaiswal, hinted at the conspiracy to target batting legend
and other celebrities. An agency report quoted the junior home minister
as telling a TV channel that it was possible that a tip off from the state
intelligence led to the security upgrade.
As reported by on Saturday,
cops in Bangalore, where he is attending a fitness camp, have already stepped
up security for Tendulkar; similar steps are being taken to protect industrialists
like Azim Premji of Wipro and N R Narayanamurthy This is not the first
time that a terrorist plot to target Tendulkar and other members of the
Indian cricket squad. A few years ago, intelligence agencies had managed
to sniff a Lashkar-e-Taiba plot to target Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly. |