Farhat Khan, the former Personal Assistant to Samajwadi Party MP Munnvar Salim, has revealed in his confessional statement to police that once someone passes information to Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), s/he gets trapped in their net.
Khan told police that pictures of him exchanging confidential documents with various Pakistan High Commission staffers were grabbed and he was blackmailed that the pictures would be leaked if he did not continue supplying such documents in future.
Police said 16 names of Pakistan High Commission staffers have cropped up in connection to the crime.
Also, police said Khan was the Waqf board chief in Kairana town in Western UP that was recently engulfed in communal tension. “He was also a member of the Zila Parishad. Khan, along with Pakistan diplomat Mahmood Akhtar and many others, had started the spy ring,” said the police official.
Khan told police that he had first visited Pakistan High Commission 20 years back to apply for visa for his then boss, MP Munnavar Hussain, who later passed away.
“He said he was then approached by a few High Commission staffers who offered him huge money in return of sharing sensitive documents,” said the official.
“Khan used to be invited to parties in Pakistan High Commission, where he would exchange the confidential documents with the staffers. Photos of him handing over the documents were taken. He was also photographed with women in order to honey trap him,” said the police official adding, “He was involved in the spy ring for the last 20 years and built a trust among politicians and Government officials.”
“Mahmood Akhtar, who was declared persona non-grata and deported back to Pakistan, in his statement had mentioned Khan’s name, after which we arrested him. We had found Parliamentary Standing Committee documents, Budget documents, orders and other confidential defence related documents from his possession,” said the official.
Also, police said they have sent teams to Jodhpur and Nangaur to arrest a few more people who had passed on confidential documents to the spies. Father of one of the accused, Shoaib, will also be arrested as police have found out that even he was involved in the racket of supplying women and leaking confidential documents.