Monday, March 7 2005 22:27 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: 'Bade Bhai Ka Shop', 'Behan Ka Beta', 'Uncle'. These seemingly innocent references served a sinister purpose for slain Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militants who had planned to attack the Indian Military Academy (IMA) in Dehradun and software installations in Bangalore.

Diaries seized from militants, three of whom were killed in an encounter and two arrested in New Delhi on Saturday (Mar 5, 2005), revealed that they had given code names to their targets and other aspects related to the 'operation', Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Ashok Chand said.

While the IMA was referred to as 'college' in the code, which has been partly cracked, gelatin sticks were 'behan ka beta' (sister's son).

Weapon collection points were called 'mobile shop', AK rifles were '3310', batteries 'Airbus' and the airport was referred to as 'bade bhai ka shop' (elder brother's shop).

The militants referred to their general leader as 'Uncle' while '1 H' denoted Rs one lakh, according to police.

Two of those killed in the encounter were Pakistani nationals - Bilawal and Shahnawaz. The third militant gunned down was Shams alias Pervez Ahmed, a resident of Patna, while two other Indians Hamid Hussain and Mohd Sariq were arrested.

Investigations revealed that Shahnawaz, who hailed from Sindh district in Pakistan, was trying to acquire an Indian identity and had two driving licenses issued from Jamshedpur and Aligarh, Chand said.

According to police, militants had planned to carry out a suicide attack on the IMA and had also visited Bangalore in December last year to survey the locations of software companies there.

Police had yesterday carried out raids on their hideouts in Suraj Vihar in south-west Delhi and Zakir Nagar in south Delhi from where incriminating documents including hand-drawn maps of the area around IMA and the encoded diaries had been recovered.

While the Zakir Nagar house had been taken on rent by them in January, the one in Suraj Vihar - where they were killed - was taken on rent a fortnight ago.

The financial transactions of militants were being probed and inquiries made from banks with which they had opened accounts, police said.

Teams had been sent to Dehradun and Patna and further investigations were on, they said.