Pak espionage case: BJP for action against Samajwadi Party MP

Personal assistant of SP leader Munawwar Salim, Farhat, was arrested by police on Saturday in connection with the espionage case

Dubbing the arrest of an aide of Samajwadi Party leader Munawwar Salim in connection with the espionage racket case as extremely unfortunate, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday asked the ruling party in Uttar Pradesh to initiate action against the lawmaker.

"It is extremely unfortunate that a person sitting on the constitutional post.who is the MP of an important political party has links with spying. The Samajwadi Party itself should take action against the MP," BJP leader Prem Shukla told ANI.

Farhat, the personal assistant of Salim, was arrested by the Delhi Police on Saturday in connection with the espionage ring run by a Pakistani High Commission official, which was exposed earlier this week.

Farhat has been sent for police remand and is currently being interrogated.

On Wednesday, the police caught Pakistan high commission official Mehmood Akhtar along with two Indians identified as Maulana Ramzan and Subhash Jangir at the Delhi Zoo while they were exchanging sensitive defence documents. They were running a spy ring for Pakistan's spy agency ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence).

Akhtar was asked to leave the country within 48 hours. Subhash and Maulana were arrested on charges of sharing of sensitive information, defence documents and deployment details of the BSF along the India-Pakistan border, with the ISI. The two were sent to 12-day police custody.

Another accomplice of Akhtar, a Jodhpur-based passport and visa agent named Shoaib, was arrested near Jodhpur on Thursday evening. Shoaib was responsible for recruiting Subhash and Maulana in the module.