Detained doc in Australia given consular access

MELBOURNE: The Indian doctor, detained in Australia in connection with the failed UK bomb attacks, has been granted consular access.

A consul had met Mohammed Haneef, who was detained at Brisbane international airport on Monday, Deputy High commissioner Vinod Kumar said but declined to give further details.

He said further details will be disclosed through Indian government back home.

However, according to Queensland-based Indian diplomat Sarva-Daman Singh no further information about Haneef was received from Australian government.

Singh said Haneef had earlier contacted the consul to contact his wife in India.

There had been only one communication from Haneef, when he was allowed to contact the consulate some hours after his arrest on Monday night, Singh said on Thursday.

Another diplomatic source said Haneef's family had proclaimed their son's innocence, but there were fears that he might have fallen in with 'the wrong crowd' while in Britain last year.

"Before leaving Liverpool, he gave his SIM card to colleagues, another doctor, since it was no use to him," said the source adding.

 "But having been in Liverpool with all these guys, perhaps the family doesn't know what he did." The diplomatic source said Haneef's upbringing and education did not appear to indicate any political radicalization.