NEW DELHI, Oct 27:
In the midst of heightened Indo- Pak tensions, a Pakistan High Commission staffer was detained by police for accessing sensitive defence documents while running a spy ring for ISI, and was immediately declared persona non-grata today.
The staffer Mehmood Akhtar, who worked in the visa section of the High Commission and has diplomatic immunity, was procuring critical details including about deployment of BSF personnel along the Indo-Pak border from two other accomplices who have been arrested here, police said.
Described as the kingpin of the spy ring, 35-year-old Akhtar belongs to the Baloch regiment of Pakistani army and was on deputation to spy agency ISI since 2013, investigators said, adding they are also probing possible involvement of more people from the Pakistani mission.
Sources in Delhi Police also did not rule out possible involvement of some BSF personnel in the racket as they believe the staffer Mehmood Akhtar and his accomplices could not have got hold of deployment details unless somebody in BSF was leaking them.
Akhtar and two others — identified as Subhash Jangir and Maulana Ramzan— were picked up from Delhi Zoo yesterday at around 10 AM. Akhtar was released after around three hours of interrogation as he enjoys diplomatic immunity. A fourth person Shoaib, who is a Jodhpur-based passport and visa agent, was detained by Rajasthan police this evening and was being brought to Delhi.
Shoaib was present at the meeting at the Delhi Zoo yesterday but had managed to give a slip to police.
A Delhi court sent Jangir and Ramzan to 12-day custody of the police which said their custodial interrogation was needed to unearth the larger conspiracy.
“The accused were involved in espionage activities for over a year-and-a-half. We were watching their activities for past six months. On a specific input, they were held yesterday. Akhtar is a kingpin of the spy ring,” Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Ravindra Yadav told a press conference.
Shortly after the police disclosure, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar summoned Pakistan envoy Abdul Basit to his office and conveyed to him that Akhtar has been declared persona non-grata for espionage activities. Later, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said Akhtar has been given 48-hours to leave the country.
Police said that Akhtar initially showed an Aadhar card in the name of Mehboob Rajput.
“He claimed to be a resident of Chandni Chowk but after sustained interrogation, he revealed his real name Mehmood Akhtar,” said Yadav.
“He is serving with Pakistan ISI and has got diplomatic immunity since he is posted in the Pakistan High Commission (PHC) of Delhi. This was verified through MEA and after confirmation and as per the due procedures, he was handed over to the PHC diplomats in presence of MEA representative,” Yadav said.
Ramzan and Subhash are residents of Rajasthan’s Nagore. Ramzan had introduced Subhash to Akhtar as a paramilitary officer for minting hefty amount of money as well as to show that information being received is credible, Yadav said.
During interrogation, Akhtar told police that he is on deputation to Pak ISI since January 2013 and is a serving Hawaldar of 40 Baloch Regiment of Pakistan army, the officer said adding he is native of village Kahuta, Rawalpindi district.
Sources said more people in the Pakistani High Commission may be involved in the case.
On possible involvement of BSF personnel, they said, “The documents that were recovered from them couldn’t have been procured without the help of someone privy to such sensitive information. We are suspecting that they were aided by some BSF personnel who leaked the information and documents to them.
“We are investigating that aspect. We have identified some of the officers involved and we will be conducting a raid soon.”
It is also suspected that he lured many people into the spying ring by offering them good money and that there was a honey trap at play to lure people, said another officer in the probe team.
“Since Akhtar was working in the visa department, it gave easy access to him to identify people who could work for him as spies. People who were financially weak would be lured by promise of getting big money,” he said.
The officer said the honey trap angle was also being explored. “From initial investigation, it has been revealed that some girls were exploited after being promised good money and were used to lure men into the module. We are investigating this aspect,” he added.
Police has also recovered the mobile phones of Maulana and Jangir, who were sharing information and documents with Akhtar.
“It has been found that they used to mostly communicate through whatsapp calls as they are not recorded. We cannot procure the call detail records of calls made through whatsapp.
“On normal phone calls, their conversations would mostly happen through codewords and we were studying the pattern in the last six months,” said the senior police officer.
Akhtar would meet Maulana and Jangir once every month in Delhi where they would give documents to him and he would pay them a high amount in return.
During interrogation, they didn’t reveal the amount for leaking information but it is suspected to be in the range of Rs 30,000-Rs 50,000, he said. (PTI)
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