Spy accused sent to five-day police remand

JAISALMER/BIKANER: A day after Pak spy Ismail Khan was arrested from Sriganganagar district, he was produced in a court in Jaipur on Saturday and sent to five-day police remand. A team from central interrogation center (CIC), involving state and central intelligence agencies and police, interrogated him in Jaipur.
The investigators were surprised that the accused lived in a makeshift house equipped with broadband internet connection, a laptop loaded with latest software programmes and other equipment.All these items have also been sent to Jaipur for investigation.
"He claims to have dropped out of school after Class IX. He used to save email messages in the inbox for ISI officials," a senior police officer said.
Rupinder Singh, SP, Sriganganagar said Khan was arrested from Karanpur area on a tip-off. He lived-with his wife and children.
SP Rupinder Singh said during interrogation Khan admitted that living as a shepherd he enjoyed easy access to the border and was supplying information using Pakistani SIM cards. Khan admitted informing Pakistani sources about important locations of armed forces and geographic locations of vital installations in the Sriganganagar area. He also admitted that he has visited Chhattargarh, Mahajan field firing range and Khajuwala areas of Bikaner and has passed on information about these areas..
SP Singh said Khan went to Pakistan twice and on both occasions he extended the visa limit. In fact, he was taking training in ISI camps. After receiving a tip from intelligence agencies, local police and CID started watching him and arrested him on Thursday when he was talking to somebody on mobile using a Pakistani SIM card.
Earlier, also suspected Pakistani spies have been arrested in Bikaner. Lakhan Joshi alias Sajid Hussain in August 2009, Maqbool in February 2007 and Asgar was arrested in 2003.
Bikaner SP Habib Khan said Bikaner police will gather information from Sriganganagar police about visits of Ismail Khan in Chhattargarh, Mahajan and Khajuwala areas for further investigation. He said local police and CID have been kept alert about the suspicious activities in Bikaner, particularly in villages along the international border.
The suspicion of Indian residents in border districts of Rajasthan being targeted by the Pak agency Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) for spying once again came to the fore when a Sriganganagar resident was arrested on the same charges on Thursday night.