DRDO Jaisalmer guest house manager caught spying for Pakistan, arrested

The guest house manager of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Jaisalmer, who was detained on suspicion of spying for Pakistan, has been arrested by the Rajasthan Police on grounds of substantial evidence.

Mahendra Prasad, the accused, was produced before a court in Jaipur on Wednesday and was sent to a two-day police remand.

The accused, a resident of Uttarakhand’s Almora, was posted as the manager of the DRDO guest house in Chandan area of Jaisalmer and was detained following intelligence inputs against him on August 4. After a joint interrogation in Jaipur, he was placed under arrest on Tuesday night.

Investigating officer Vinod Meena said that the accused had shared information related to missile testing and the movement of scientists with a Pakistani handler via social media.

The accused had access to details regarding the visit of Indian scientists and DRDO officers to the firing range for various technical operations, including missile trials.

“Information about which scientists were coming and what kind of work they were doing was being shared by Mahendra with a Pakistani handler,” he said.

The officer said that Kumar was tracked over time and sufficient evidence was gathered. Following this, he was detained, interrogated and arrested.

“During interrogation, it was revealed that Mahendra had been in contact with Pakistani intelligence operatives via social media platforms for a long time. He had been passing on information about missile trials and DRDO activities to them,” Meena said.