PTI

Mumbai, Jan 1: The five militants arrested in connection with last month's Uttar Pradesh serial blasts wanted to carry out simultaneous explosions in four crowded areas in Mumbai, including Gateway of India, official sources said in New Delhi.

The sources quoting the interrogators questioning the five militants arrested from Barabanki (Uttar Pradesh), Doda (Jammu and Kashmir) and North 24 Parganas (West Bengal) claimed that Bangladesh-based banned Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islamia was planning to carry out yet another serial blasts in Mumbai. All the five have been arrested for the November 23 serial blasts in UP cities Lucknow, Faizabad and Varanasi.

Gateway of India, Andheri, Oberoi Hotel and Navi Mumbai were places where these militants had already carried out dry runs -- a chilling reminder of 2006 Mumbai serial blasts.

The militants, however, changed their plans for Mumbai after a group of UP lawyers manhandled two Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) militants, arrested for hatching conspiracy to kidnap VIPs, including Rahul Gandhi.