Raj govt employee arrested for espionage, links to Pakistan embassy staff and ISI
The accused had earlier served as a personal assistant of former Congress minister Saleh Mohammed from 2008-2013.
The intelligence department of Rajasthan Police on Tuesday arrested a Jaisalmer-based state government employee on charges of espionage after they found him to have links with two Pakistan embassy staff and the Pakistan’s spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), officials said.
“Shakur Khan, who had been working as an assistant administrative officer at the Jaisalmer employment office since 2013, was detained by the department on May 28 for questioning after police found his movement suspicious,” Vishnu Kant, inspector general (IG) of the security department, said.
Khan had earlier served as a personal assistant of former Congress minister Saleh Mohammed from 2008-2013, who was then a sitting MLA from Pokhran, the officials said.
“He was on our radar for a long time. He visited Pakistan seven times in the last few years. During questioning, we found out that he was in regular touch with two Pakistan embassy staff — Ehsaan-Ur-Rehman alias Danish and Sohail Qamar. Danish was an official in the Pakistan embassy in India but was identified as a suspicious entity and sent back to Pakistan by the Indian government a few years ago,” the IG said.
Kant further said, “Khan had visited Pakistan several times for which Danish helped him getting the visa. Danish and Sohail also got him in touch with ISI agents. Khan had been sending them confidential military information through WhatsApp.”
“This is a serious security breach, as his position would have given him access to a lot of sensitive information. Khan’s activities are in violation of the Official Secrets Act 1923. A case has been registered against him under this Act and he has been arrested,” the officer said.
Meanwhile, Khan’s background of serving as a personal assistant of a former Congress minister sparked a political controversy in the state, with the Rajasthan parliamentary affairs minister Jogaram Patel saying, “Saleh Mohammed should comment on it, and the police should also question him.”
The development comes a week after the Delhi police and intelligence agencies arrested Hasim Mev, a cousin of a man named Kasim Mev from Deeg district of Rajasthan, in connection with another case of espionage.
