In March 2006, a series of blasts ripped through Varanasi’s Sankat Mochan Hanuman Temple and the cantonment railway station, killing twenty-one people and injuring over a hundred. It was suspected that pressure-cooker bombs were used. One of the bombs was kept in the waiting room of the railway station.

All these blasts took place in northern India – the national capital Delhi and the country’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, in particular – killing and maiming innocent civilians. The bombs were planted in crowded public places and sites of worship. The investigating agencies did not have any clear leads on the identities of the culprits or their motives.

No one claimed responsibility for the series of blasts, which were probably orchestrated by two sets of terror outfits, and CTC was worried about the need to unmask the new masterminds. Initially, LeT also did not know the exact identities of those who were responsible and later told its members, including Atharv and Rohit, to not talk about them. Al-Wali, though, indicated to Atharv once that some ISI-controlled cells most probably could be behind the blasts. But he did not have any actual information on this. Abu-Lakhvi would periodically probe Atharv, fishing for any scrap of information that the latter may have acquired on the subject.

In one of the weekly telephone calls with Atharv, Al-Wali handed over the phone to Abu-Lakhvi after a few cursory queries.

‘How are you Atharv? How are your studies?’ Abu-Lakhvi said.

‘We are well here, thanks to your best wishes.’

‘Brother, when did you go to Varanasi? To Dashashwamedha Ghat?’ Abu-Lakhvi asked him.

‘I have not gone to Varanasi in my life, janaab.’

‘It’s okay; you can tell me if you went.’

‘I have never been there, janaab.’

‘So, what about the Shramjeevi Express?’

Abu-Lakhvi was being indirect, but Atharv was not on the same page, it appeared.

‘If you mean that … ? No, janaab, those two blasts were not our work.’

‘Oh? I thought they were by your team. I asked Abu-Muzammil about them, and he said he will get back with all the facts. I will find out then who is behind them if it’s not us,’ Abu-Lakhvi declared before hanging up.

‘Hello, Atharv.’ It was Shekhar who answered the call on his office landline. Atharv had called him on Somaiya’s instructions.

‘Sir, you wanted to speak to me?’ Atharv said.

‘I asked Somaiya if the LeT was behind the blasts in UP and Delhi. The Dashashwamedh blast, the blast in a coach of the Shramjeevi Express, the Sankat Mochan temple and the Delhi Diwali blasts.’

‘Sir, my team was not involved in those blasts.’

‘Have you heard anything at all about the orchestration of these blasts?’

‘No, sir. Not even a whisper.’