‘Also, set up barricades along the road leading to Keshavgiri,’ Shekhar continued. A senior police officer must be deployed at these barricades to check IDs, and commandos need to be there with their fingers on the triggers. The police officers at the barricades should be empowered to give orders to fire at suspicious persons if they do not obey orders and proceed towards Himalaya Bhavan. They should fire to injure them for preventive arrests or neutralize them if that is required. And finally, please have snipers positioned around the building to pluck out the terrorists if they can,’ Shekhar said.

‘I see you have covered the basics well. I will see what can be done and with immediate effect,’ Goswami said.

At 10.30 a.m. on 11 February, the three fidayeen, dressed in police uniform and carrying a white kit bag, were waiting at a roadside eatery near the Sarasbaug Ganesh temple on Bajirao Street, which attracted hundreds of devotees daily.

Two days earlier, on 9 February, Babar had instructed the fidayeen to check out from their hotel on the evening of 10 February. Since 6 p.m. on 10 February, the three men had been staying in the waiting room of the Pune railway station. Babar had given them train tickets for Mumbai, scheduled for departure on 10 February. The tickets would give them access to the waiting room and create an alibi for the three fidayeen, as per Babar’s calculations.

Also on 9 February, Babar had taken an 11 a.m. flight to Delhi, then hopped on to another flight to reach Dehradun to run a check on the preparations to mount the attack on IMA. He had used a forged voter ID card, which had his photograph but a fake name and address, to buy the air tickets.

Around 10.40 a.m. on 11 February, a white ambassador with a red beacon atop its roof pulled up outside the eatery. Rohit was in the driver’s seat, accompanied by Sahil, who exited the car and gestured at the three fidayeen to get in. Rohit and Sahil walked away from the car, taking quick steps, and melted into the crowd. The fidayeen got into the car, with Sohail at the steering wheel praying for success in their mission.

As the fidayeen had learned during their triple reconnaissance of the target and the route to be taken to it, Bajirao Street met up with Patel Road. At the junction, one had to turn left on to Patel Road and keep going straight for another 1.5 kilometres to reach the point where the road turned left on to Deeksha Marg. At the end of Deeksha Marg was the entrance to Himalaya Bhavan.