‘Spy’ held in Rajasthan, BJP says linked to ex-Cong minister

A Rajasthan Government employee was detained in Jaisalmer on suspicion of espionage for Pakistan with sources saying he worked as an assistant to former Congress minister Shale Mohammad.

Shakur Khan, who works in the district employment office, was found to have phone numbers associated with Pakistan stored on his device, an official said. It is alleged that he was in touch with people in Pakistan and shared security related updates from Jaisalmer. The official said Khan was detained on Wednesday night by an intelligence department team which was acting on security-related inputs. “There were inputs about Shakur Khan that he could be involved in spying for Pakistan. He was on surveillance following inputs and was detained last night,” the official said.

M’rashtra Engineer ‘leaked’ defence info

Maharashtra’s Anti-Terrorism Squad has arrested a Thane-based junior engineer, Ravindra Murlidhar Verma, on charges of spying, alleging he provided sensitive defence information to a Pakistani intelligence operative who honey-trapped him online.

While police refrained from saying anything about Khan's political connections, sources said he worked as an assistant to Mohammad, a former minister in the Ashok Gehlot-led government. A joint interrogation was conducted in Jaisalmer following which the team left for Jaipur with Khan.

Central agencies will interrogate him in Jaipur. BJP leaders have targeted Congress over the issue. BJP IT head Amit Malviya said Khan used to share confidential information with Pakistani officials. “Strong evidence has been found against Shakoor Khan, personal assistant of former Congress minister Saleh Mohammad in Rajasthan, for spying for Pakistan's ISI,” he wrote on X. There was no immediate reaction from the Congress on the BJP's charge.