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Post 13/7 and the Delhi [ Images ] high court blasts, what foxed investigators was the complete absence of telephone conversations that led up to the planning and the execution of these blasts.

Further investigations revealed that the cadres had used social networking websites, and that's how they managed to stay under the investigators' radar. The investigators also found that some cadres of the Indian Mujahideen [ Images ] were trying to conduct recruitments through their Facebook accounts.

The IM has been quick in the use of technology when it came to planning and executing their operations. They started out with the use of email, then moved on to chats and later Skype, a video conferencing application.

However, when the police finally realised, the cadres improvised by using the 'save draft' option and the cache to store their messages in accounts which were accessed through a common username and password.

The planning

IM's elusive chief operative Yasin Bhatkal had extensively used social networking sites to stay in touch with his cadres. Personalised messages were sent out and status updates in coded form were used to communicate his plans which eventually led to two very horrific blasts.

The police say that the cadres had started using social networking websites as far back as 2008, but it was only used as backup.

However, post 2008, because of strict monitoring by investigators; the cadres started using social networking websites extensively.

The first use was visible during the 2010 Varanasi blast, which was orchestrated through this medium. The perpetrators used heavily-coded language to pass on the information. They used a similar modus operandi during the triple blasts in Mumbai [ Images ] and the Delhi HC blasts.

During the planning stage, the IM cadres in India met directly and discussed their plans. They realised that one-on-one meetings left little or no trail. Networking sites were used to communicate with their counterparts in other locations. This, of course, went unnoticed by the police, which helped them execute their plans with a great deal of ease.

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Is IM using social networking sites for recruitment?