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The Pakistani official who was on Thursday detained for spying has been declared ‘persona non grata’ and asked to leave the country, officials said.
Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar conveyed the message to Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit, officials in the Ministry External Affairs (MEA) said.
Basit was summoned by the MEA earlier in the day.
Vikas Swarup, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, tweeted that Jaishankar summoned Basit “to convey that (a) Pakistan High Commission staffer has been declared persona non grata for espionage activities”.
The Crime Branch of the Delhi Police had detained the Pak official, Mehmood Akhtar along with two Rajasthani residents – Maulana Ramzan and Subhash Jangir on Wednesday for passing on sensitive defence information to Pakistan’s ISI.
However, as Akhtar enjoys diplomatic immunity, he was let off after questioning.
Police said that Akhtar worked in the Visa office of the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi and was the kingpin of the racket to recruit Indians as spies for Pakistan. The module was active for the last one and a half years.
“The Pak official’s job was to target possible recruits from those applying for visa. He looked out for people from economically weaker sections. These spies would then pass on vital information like deployment of army personnel at border areas to the official,” Ravindra Yadav, Joint CP, Delhi Police said.
“He (Akhtar) used to meet the spies once a month,” he added.
The police said that Akhtar used to be a hawaldar in the Baloch regiment of the Pakistan army.
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