Espionage racket: Fake Aadhar card, a meeting at Delhi zoo and Pakistan's customary denial
The Delhi Police said the Pakistani staffer, Mehmood Akhtar, claimed to be an Indian citizen and even showed a fake Aadhar card.
India has asked a Pakistan High Commission staffer posted in New Delhi to leave the country immediately for allegedly running a major espionage ring that was busted with the arrest of two Indians possessing sensitive defence documents to be passed on to the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). LIVE UPDATES
Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar summoned Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit "to convey that (a) Pakistan High Commission staffer has been declared persona non grata for espionage activities", a charge denied by Pakistan, which has accused India of "harassment".
- The Delhi Police said the Pakistani staffer, Mehmood Akhtar, claimed to be an Indian citizen and even showed a fake Aadhar card.
- Upon further interrogation, Akhtar revealed that he is an employee with the Pakistani High Commission.
- Akhtar is believed to be the leader of the racket that also included two Indians from Rajasthan: Maulana Ramzan and Subhash Jangir.
- Police said they had intelligence alerts that the three would meet at a place near the Delhi Zoo in central Delhi on Wednesday.
- The trio was carrying out the activities since the last one-and-half years, but were under the watch of the Delhi Police for the last six months.
- List of defence deployment, maps of BSF posts, visa and other related documents were recovered from the spies.
- Delhi Police said Akhtar was a havildar in the Baloch regiment of the Pakistani army and was later hired by the ISI.
- Basit has denied the espionage accusation, saying the Pakistani High Commission "never engages in activity that is incompatible with its diplomatic status".
- The Pakistan High Commissioner has asked India "to ensure that such harassment should not happen in future".
- Basit told Jaishankar that the detention and manhandling of Pakistan embassy staffer violates the 1961 Vienna Convention.
READ: 46 arrested since 2013: Timeline of Pakistan's spy game in India
Pak High Commission official Mehmood Akhtar, who was detained by Delhi Police crime branch over espionage charges, carried fake Aadhaar card pic.twitter.com/4QDJG7kwWE
ANI (@ANI_news) October 27, 2016