Summary Local media has reported that New Delhi police had detained him.
NEW DELHI (Dunya News / AFP) - India announced Thursday it was expelling a Pakistani visa official for suspected spying after he was briefly detained carrying sensitive defense documents, with tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours already running high.
New Delhi police claims the official had been recruiting Indian nationals for two and a half years to spy in return for cash.
"Delhi police crime branch has busted an espionage racket run by a kingpin working in the Pakistan high commission," alleges Ravindra Yadav, joint commissioner of police on crime.
The official, named as Mehmood Akhtar, was detained on Wednesday with documents in his possession on Indian troop deployment along the border, Yadav told a press conference in Delhi.
"They used to meet once in a month at a pre-decided place to exchange documents and money," he said.
Akhtar was later released, he added.
India’s foreign secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar summoned Pakistan’s high commissioner to inform him of the decision to expel the official within 48 hours.
"FS (foreign secretary) summons Pak High Commissioner to convey that Pak High Commission staffer has been declared persona non grata for espionage activities," Indian foreign ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said on Twitter.
FS summons Pak High Commissioner to convey that Pak High Commission staffer has been declared persona non grata for espionage activities
— Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) October 27, 2016
Tensions between India and Pakistan have soared since a raid last month on an Indian army base near the de-facto border dividing Kashmir killed 19 soldiers, the worst such attack in more than a decade.
India wrongly blamed Pakistan for the attack while its false claim was refuted internationally of carrying out a surgical strike in Pakistani territory.
Indian forces frequently violate ceasefire by opening unprovoked fire across the Line of Control and have caused major life loss and destruction in the area.
Such firings have increased in recent months as relations between the rivals have plummeted.
Yadav claims two Indian nationals from the northern state of Rajasthan were also arrested, and that Akhtar had planned to meet his Indian co-conspirators at the Delhi zoo to exchange the information and cash.
He alleged Akhtar was carrying maps that showed the deployment of India’s Border Security Forces (BSF) and army soldiers.
"A list of jawans (soldiers) posted at the border along with soldiers who had retired from service was also recovered," Yadav said.
Pakistan’s High Commissioner lodges "strong protest"
Pakistan’s High Commissioner Abdul Basit lodged a "strong protest" on Thursday with the Indian foreign ministry and said the detention of the official contravened diplomatic conventions, a Pakistani diplomatic source said.
He clearly rejected the accusations and termed the spying claims as baseless and false.
"The High Commissioner denied the accusation and said we (the commission) never engage in activity that is incompatible with its diplomatic status," the source told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The official has been given 48 hours to leave the country, the source said.
Tensions were already high before the attack, with deadly Indian violence in Kashmir over the death on July 8 of a popular militant leader.
More than 100 people, most of them young protesters, have been killed by security forces in occupied Kashmir.
Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence from Britain in 1947. Both claim the territory in full and have fought two wars over the mountainous region.
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