In a development which could also result in a major diplomatic row between India and Pakistan, the crime branch of Delhi Police has put Pakistani High Commission under their scanner in connection to the espionage network busted in the National Capital on Sunday.
Not only has Pakistan High Commission's name cropped up during the busting of the espionage network, but police here believe that there is a strong possibility that the arrested ISI agents had penetrated both the Indian Army and India based security agencies.
Crime branch officials on Monday said that during interrogation Kaifatullah Khan, the alleged spy, revealed that a Pakistani Intelligence Operative (PIO) in Pakistan had directed him to apply for the Pakistan visa at the high commission and meet a 'contact' there.
"The PIO had briefed him to contact him once he reaches Pakistan High Commission. He (Kaifatullah) was supposed to meet a contact of PIO near the Pakistan High Commission and had to hand over the passport and the recommendation letter. The recommendation letter was discovered from his possession which has been addressed to Pakistan High Commissioner. All the logistic support was to be provided by the contact of the PIO whom he had to meet near Pakistan High Commission. The passport and the recommendation letter have been seized from his possession," said Ravindra Yadav, joint commissioner of police, Crime Branch.
Kaifatullah, a librarian in a higher secondary school in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri area, was taken in police custody on Thursday last week when he was on his way to 'Bhopal Ijtema', an annual religious gathering, where he was allegedly supposed to scout for information and possible recruits.
Subsequently Abdul Rasheed, a head constable in the Border Security Force was arrested in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday for allegedly providing official secrets to Khan who is accused of working at the behest of Pakistan's premier intelligence agency, ISI. According to sources, Abdul was first interrogated by the BSF and then handed over the crime branch.
According to investigations so far, it has been revealed that Kaifatullah was able to penetrate Indian Army, BSF and various security agencies of India at multiple levels and had been "procuring secret information detrimental to the security of the country". Rasheed, a cousin of Khan, however was one of his main sources.
Kaifatullah was given specific tasks by the PIO, which were mainly concerning with the deployment of security forces and air force operations. The information was passed through e-mail, WhatsApp and Viber.
Abdul, a head constable in the intelligence wing of BSF posted at the office of DIG, initially passed information to Kaifatullah but later had come in direct contact with ISI agents across the border. According to police Kaifatullah was selected in the year 1990 and was earlier posted in Gujarat and West Bengal and shifted to J&K in year 1998.
"Being in the intelligence wing of BSF, he was having access to secret/sensitive information pertaining to deployment/ Border fencing/movement of the troops. He was passing the information to PIO initially through Kafaitullah but later on he developed close relations directly with the PIO and started communicating with him regularly through the App based communication.
"His father had visited Pakistan in the year 2014 to meet his paternal uncle. He disclosed that he was cultivated by Kafaitullah to give sensitive/ secret information in lieu of monetary considerations. His bank account details are being verified for the same," investigators said.
"We have apprehensions that the espionage network had spread into the army and other security agencies," Yadav said. According to sources name of at least one army official has cropped up during questioning.
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