Cops get into act,hotel where Headley stayed under scanner

The atmosphere at Hotel Surya Villa was decidedly uncomfortable on Wednesday. As news spread that this was the place where David Headley had stayed when he visited Pune in March this year...

The atmosphere at Hotel Surya Villa was decidedly uncomfortable on Wednesday. As news spread that this was the place where David Headley had stayed when he visited Pune in March this year,as reported by The Indian Express,the hotel came under both media and police scrutiny. While the media thronged the place all day,the hotel management clammed up. The C-form booklet and the hotel register that had been available for scrutiny till yesterday was no more available at the reception,with the managers referring all queries to the police. The police apparently quizzed the management on Wednesday morning.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (special branch) Ravindra Sengaonkar said they had recovered the original copy of Headleys C-form that the hotel had submitted within 24 hours as per the rules. At that time,there was no need to give it special attention as no even one knew who Headley was and what was he up to. Even now,he is with the FBI in the US and there is only so much that we can do.

Sengaonkar said they had formed a special team for verifying all C-forms submitted by the hotel along with putting together a new and modern mechanism of foreigners verifications.

Asked as to why the police had not combed the hotels in Koregaon Park after getting information that Headley had visited Pune and the Osho Commune,Sengaonklar said their job was information-oriented.

We have lots of informers and we base our investigations on information we collect. Investigations are on to find out where Headley stayed when he came to the city in July last year and we will soon have all the details.

Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh,while answering questions from the media,said they already knew that Headley had stayed at Hotel Surya Villa. Its not true that the media got the information first. We had the information,but did not share it with the media because the NIA is investigating the case.

Even on Wednesday,other hotels in Koregaon Park confirmed that the police had not contacted them yet to check records or asked them to do so. We have no such instructions from the police but we have made our check-in rules for foreigners more stringent, said Prakash Pillay,general manager of Hotel Shrimaan,which is popular with foreigners especially those frequenting the Osho Commune. Tanveer Khalid,manager,Oakwood and Sunderbans,also said they had not got any communique from the police.

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Sengaonkar said there was no need for them to go to individual hotels and check their registers as they had records of foreigners who check into these hotels.

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