Pune, often described as the country’s cultural and educational capital, received a jolt to its image with the revelation that the Indian Mujahideen (IM) was using the city as its “control room” and a hub for jihadi plots.

The IM’s local office was at H-302, Ashoka Mews, an apartment complex in upmarket Kondhwa, said the Mumbai crime branch after arresting eight men from the city.

Another revelation is that explosives had been sent to Pune. The police said two men arrested in Mangalore had visited Surat twice and Pune once, transporting explosives in small parcels. The explosives in Surat were detected; police are investigating whether the module planned blasts in Pune.

Of those arrested, four are from Kondhwa and one from Kasba Peth, in the heart of the city. IT executive Mohammed Mansoor Akgar Peerbhoy (31), who used the aliases Munawar alias Mannu, is a principal software manager; Mubin (24) alias Salman Kadar Shaikh is a computer science graduate; Asif Bashiruddin Shaikh (22) alias Hasan alias Mehmood is a mechanical engineer from Pune.

The rest include Mohammed Akbar Ismail Choudhary (26), Majid Akhtar Sheikh (27) and Aniq Shakeel Sayyad (27) and Farooq Shamshuddin Tarkash (25), all from Kondhwa, besides Yasir Anees Sayyed (20) of Kasba Peth.

A member of Choudhary’s family said, “We are in deep distress.” Choudhary reportedly drove the computer experts to spots where they could identify WiFi networks.

Majid’s elder brother, Nazim Sheikh, said Majid and his friends Farooq and Aniq were innocent.

“Majid is a very simple, quiet boy, busy with his job, family and namaz. He has very few friends... all were good people,” Nazim said. Majid is an arts graduate from Poona College, worked with Infosys at Hinjewadi and learnt computers while working closely with an architect.

“Majid, Aniq and Farooq ran Acme — which had a computer institute, a mobile shop and an English coaching centre — in Pune Camp. Aniq, working with an IT company, is a college friend while Farooq is a childhood friend. Yasir was working at the mobile shop,” Nazim said.

Majid’s mother said, “He came home once a week. We were worried when he did not come for a long time and we could not reach him on the mobile. Suddenly, the police said they had arrested him,” she said.