Indian police have arrested a man working for the army in New Delhi as he handed classified military documents to a Pakistani official, a senior police officer said on Saturday, triggering a strong protest from Pakistan.
Anil Kumar Dubey who, police said worked in the army's insurance directorate, was detained on Friday, deputy commissioner of police Alok Kumar told Reuters. "He was arrested yesterday evening for passing secret documents to an official from the Pakistani High Commission," Kumar said.
A police statement said Dubey had been "collecting information regarding the movement and deployment of the Indian army and transmitting sensitive and secret information regarding the Indian army to a hostile foreign agent". It identified the Pakistani as Mohammad Farooq, who it said was an agent of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) posted at the country's mission in New Delhi.
Farooq was caught accepting secret defence documents and computer CDs from Dubey in south-west New Delhi, the statement said, something it alleged had been going on for four or five months in return for money.
A source in the Indian government confirmed the arrest but gave no further information. Farooq was handed over to the Pakistani officials after all legal formalities were completed, Kumar said. Pakistan's High Commission issued a strong protest. "The government of Pakistan has lodged a strong protest with the Indian government over the illegal detention and manhandling of Mohammad Farooq, a driver of the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi, by the Indian security personnel," it said in a statement.
"The harassment of the Pakistani official is a violation of international conventions as well as the diplomatic norms." Islamabad said India had fabricated the spying story to cover up the harassment of a Pakistani national.
"Now, we have made it public that they taken away our driver and he was kept there till 1 o'clock in the morning, so they have come up with this story," said foreign ministry spokeswoman Tasneem Aslam. Indian police said a case had been registered against Dubey under the Official Secrets Act.