‘Good evening, janaab. Babar bol raha hoon,’ Siddhant said in a low voice. ‘I will be going to the temple and will make sure to ring its bells,’ he said and disconnected the call. He was smiling as he took a sip of his tea.

Babar Irfan, an Indian recruit of the LeT, was one of Abu-Lakhvi’s sharpest operatives in India and was part of a sleeper module controlled by Abu-Muzammil and Al-Wali for Abu-Lakhvi. Babar had not come under the radar of the Indian enforcement agencies or police so far. Being an unknown entity, he could travel anywhere.

Al-Wali had chosen Babar to execute the operation for which Atharv had been sent to ‘Nanihal’. As per the code, ‘temple’ referred to IIS&T and ‘ring its bells’ referred to completing the mission he had been tasked with by Al-Wali and Abu-Lakhvi.

Two days ago, after receiving an alert from Al-Wali, he had collected the ‘project files’ – the weapons, ammunition and grenades – from Nilgiri Hotel and moved them to a flat in Mata Amritabai Rahiwasi Sangh. The cacophonous, bustling world of the slum would give him the space and anonymity required to execute the operation. He had already tied up with a catering agency in Kalbadevi in south Mumbai to handle the 5 January event at IIS&T.

A year ago, Babar had arrived in Pakistan from Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh. Originally from Kishanganj, Bihar, he was then a student at a college in Lucknow. He was doing well in academics and took a keen interest in current affairs and issues related to the Muslim community. The loss of Muslim lives in the Gujarat riots of 2002 gave him sleepless nights.

Babar’s classmate, Mustaq Ansari, felt deeply for the Gujarat riot victims as well and had introduced him to a senior college student, Tariq Ansari. Tariq was a firebrand and spewed venom at the pro-Hindu right-wing groups that were being accused of orchestrating the anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat. Noticing that Babar was enraged by the slaughter, Tariq had invited him to his hostel room to meet some of his ‘like-minded’ friends.

At multiple such gatherings in Tariq’s hostel room, several young men, including Babar, swore revenge and talked about jihad as the only option for the embattled Muslim community in India.

‘Are you using jihad to make a name for yourself? Do you understand what jihad means?’ Tariq had ambushed Babar and asked after one such meeting.

‘Jaan de sakta hoon community ke liye,’ Babar had responded without hesitating.

‘You are emotional right now, brother. Think about the path of jihad carefully and then let me know how you feel when we meet again,’ Tariq had said softly.

Babar had hated the patronizing tone Tariq had adopted when speaking to him about jihad.

He was at Tariq’s door at 8 a.m. the following morning. Tariq was surprised to see him but ushered him in.