Union Home Secretary R K Singh maintained that the advisory circulated was based on "credible information" but refrained from commenting on the contents of the advisory as well as the photographs.
Based on the "credible information", the intelligence agency warned several states, including Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa, that five operatives of Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba(LeT) have sneaked into India and were plotting to target vital installations like petroleum establishments.
Mumbai police had circulated three of the five photos last week after it was tipped off by the intelligence agency.
Home Minister P Chidambaram and Home Secretary R K Singh also made a reference to this at the recent Chief Ministers conference while pitching for establishment of the controversial NCTC, which is facing stiff opposition from several states.
After a Mumbai-based newspaper reported the advisory along with the photographs, Pakistani media claimed that the three were at present living in Lahore. Two of them were businessmen while the third one was a security guard, it said.
According to Pakistani media reports, the two businessmen were identified as Atif and Mehtab Butt and the third one was a guard identified as Baber.
The two businessmen have also approached the local police station for security after their photographs were released, the media reports said.