Many involved in spy racket: Sleuths

Investigators probing the case suspect more people from the mission may be involved in the espionage ring. 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, who worked in the visa section of the Pakistani High Commission, had procured sensitive defence documents and deployment details of BSF along the Indo-Pak border and shared them with the ISI. Two of Akhtar’s accomplices were already arrested. 

Akhtar was detained but released after prolonged questioning on Wednesday as he enjoys diplomatic immunity. He said that he is on deputation to ISI since January 2013 and is a serving Hawaldar of 40 Baloch Regiment of Pakistan army and native of village Kahuta of Rawalpindi district, said Ravindra Yadav, joint commissioner of police (Crime). During interrogation, Akhtar said that he was posted in Pakistan High Commission for last two-and-a-half years, according to police. 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.

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.” The Delhi Police had been tracking the module for the last six months and received information on October 25 that Akhtar will be meeting Subhash Jangir and Maulana Ramzan at the Delhi Zoo on October 26 around 10 AM, said the officer. A team of officers of Crime Branch led by ACP Sanjay Sherawat under the supervision of DCP Crime (South) Bhisham Singh laid a trap and caught the trio while they were in the process of exchanging documents.