They told me not to touch luggage, recalls driver Raju

‘‘The two had a handbag and a mattress that was rolled up. I offered to help with the luggage but they refused. ‘Hamare paas rahega (we’ll keep it)’, they said, getting into the taxi,’’’ Acharya says.

According to Thakore, one of them sat in front with him and the other in the back. ‘‘The smart guy, the younger of the two who had negotiated the fare with dada (Acharya), sat with me. He was dressed in a khaki shirt while the other one had a dark pink shirt on. Both of them wore dark trousers,’’ he says. He adds that the two were dressed in clean, new clothes.

‘‘Their appearance and clothes were neat. In fact, they looked like they hailed from well-to-do families,’’ he adds.

Thakore says that about half an hour after he had dropped the two at the temple, he heard gunshots and saw people rushing out of the temple. He says that both he and Acharya identified the two terrorists when they were taken to the Civil Hospital last Thursday night by officials of the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS). ‘‘We recognised them instantly,’’ says Thakore.