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Irani stayed in Delhi for three weeks, leaving in mid-May. Based at a mid-priced hotel in the city's central Connaught Circus, he spent hours, investigators say, researching possible targets. They say he also spent time with at least three call girls, contacted through an intermediary who had placed advertisements in local newspapers.

Meanwhile, Mohammed Kazmi, a 50-year-old journalist in Delhi who worked for Iranian news organisations, travelled twice to Tehran where, according to Indian investigators, he met two Iranian men involved with the plot and received $5,500. The detained journalist also helped Irani conduct surveillance of the Israeli embassy and other potential targets, 

"You could chose any number of targets or types of attack. Why go to the trouble of replicating exactly how [the scientist] was killed in January in Tehran unless you want to make a point?" the western official said.