Espionage case: pakistan hc employee under scanner

The role of a Pakistan High Commision employee in New Delhi has come under the scanner of Delhi Police in connection with the espionage racket in which an alleged ISI operative and a serving

BSF personnel have been arrested.  Kafaitullah Khan alias Master Raja, an alleged handler of the Pakistan Intelligence Operative (PIO), running an espionage racket here backed by the spy

outfit, was to meet his counterpart in Pakistan to avail more "resources" for the racket, according to Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ravindra Yadav. "During

interrogation, Khan told the police that his counterpart had asked him to get a visa done through their source employed at the Pakistan High Commission here," Yadav told reporters.

However, the identity of the source at the office of the High Commission is yet to be ascertained, said Yadav. "Once we get some leads with further interrogation of the accused duo

arrested so far, we shall have to approach the Union Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) for their permission to question staff at the High Commission's office," he added. Khan told

the police that he was going to meet another PIO handler at Bhopal, who was to inform him about the unidentified source who could easily arrange his visa, said Yadav. But Khan was

intercepted in Delhi on Thursday while he was on his way to attend a religious congregation at Bhopal and also allegedly recruit youths for the espionage racket, he said. During

interrogation, Khan, who is the native of a village in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir, disclosed about his cousin, Abdul Rasheed, who was posted as a head constable in the

intelligence wing of Border Security Force there, police said.  Khan was taken to Rajouri district and Rasheed too was arrested following a raid, a senior police official said.  "The

police recovered secret and confidential documents in connection with force deployment locations, movements and patrolling routes of security forces from possession of both the

accused," he said. Both of them have been booked under provisions of the Official Secrets Act. Meanwhile, a Crime Branch team sent to Jammu is also looking for an Army personnel who is

also suspected to be close to Khan and is believed to have allegedly passed on secret information posing threat to national security, the official said. The police are also investigating a

money trail in connection with the transfer amounts which Khan used to receive from his counterpart in Pakistan through UAE and Saudi Arabia routes, said an official privy to the

investigation.  Khan was recruited in Jammu and Kashmir police several years ago. Later, he quit the job and became a library assistant in a senior secondary school at Majankote area in

Rajouri district, the official said. In 2013, he visited Pakistan and came into contact with an ISI agent there. He agreed to share with them secret information of the defence forces in

exchange of money. "However, the earlier visit to Gujranwala in Pakistan, where many of Khan's relatives live, had nothing to do with any source in the High Commission as he was

not in touch with intelligence operatives by then," the official said.  Khan soon started cultivating sources in the Indian Army and BSF, and some of them allegedly started passing him

secret documents, the official added. According to the police, information was largely passed through e-mail, WhatsApp and Viber networks. Khan was given specific tasks by the PIO, mainly

concerned with the deployment of security forces and Air Force operations. Photo credit: Indiatimes