“This is an issue of national security and not something trivial related to Bollywood. Ask the agencies that deal with national security. I will not say anything more,” Bhatt said here on Friday. He, however, added that nobody could “imagine a white skinned American has anything to do with terror networks..... Rahul voluteered information to police and there was a responsible silence maintained by us.”

Uncle Mukesh Bhatt was direct and even went overboard. He said the intelligence agencies have given Rahul a ‘clean chit.’

“What I gather is whatever they have spoken, the intelligence people have given him a clean chit absolutely because there is nothing beyond it,” Mukesh said. “He (Rahul) just happened to bump into this character (Headley) in a gym just like anybody can bump into anybody,” Mukesh insisted. Rahul’s sister and filmmaker Pooja Bhatt too said they never thought Headley could be a terror suspect.

When the name ‘Rahul’ had cropped up, investigative agencies feared it might be a reference to Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, but Union Home Minister P Chidambaram promptly denied it.

One terror email had described ‘Rahul’ as Bollywood actor, which led detectives to speculate whether it was Shah Rukh Khan, who has played characters named ‘Rahul’ in several films. But with the latest disclosure, it has been put to rest.

Headley befriended Rahul at a gymnasium near Breach Candy and told him he was searching for a flat in Mumbai, it is learnt. The FBI found Rahul’s name mentioned in Headley’s e-mails; he had informed his Lashkar minders in Pakistan that Rahul was a Bollywood star and could be a likely target.