Rajasthan man detained on suspicion of spying for Pak, BJP says he was ex-Cong minister's assistant
Jaipur/New Delhi, May 29 (PTI): A Rajasthan government employee was detained in Jaisalmer on suspicion of espionage for Pakistan with the BJP claiming he was an assistant to former Congress minister Shale Mohammad and visited Pakistan several times without informing the government.
Shakur Khan, who works in the district employment office as Assistant Administrative Office, was found to have phone numbers associated with Pakistan stored on his device, an official said.
Intelligence unit sources said that Khan went to Pakistan seven times for meeting his relatives and to visit a religious place since 2011.
It is alleged that Khan shared security related updates from Jaisalmer and he is being interrogated by central intelligence agencies in detail.
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.
While police refrained from saying anything about Khan's political connections, sources and the BJP said he worked as an assistant to Mohammad, a former minister in the Ashok Gehlot-led government.
Mohammad could not be reached for comments.
A joint interrogation was conducted in Jaisalmer following which the team left for Jaipur with Khan.
"In the initial interrogation, he has said that he visited Pakistan to visit a religious place and to meet relatives," the official told PTI, adding that he was being further interrogated.
Khan got recruitment as a fourth class employee in the district employment office in Jodhpur. He was periodically promoted to LDC, UDC and AAO.
He has been working in the district employment office in Jaisalmer since 1999. He has a government accommodation on Barmer road in Jaisalmer.
BJP leaders targeted the Congress over the issue and demanded a thorough probe.
BJP IT department head Amit Malviya claimed that Khan used to share confidential information of border areas 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. Khan visited Pakistan several times without informing the government, Malviya claimed.
"Pakistan-worship is in the blood of Congress," he charged.
BJP national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari alleged that the Congress is not just corrupt, but it is anti-national to the core.
"Congress ex-minister Shale Mohammad's PA caught spying for Pakistan's ISI - leaked sensitive border intel, visited Pakistan secretly while on govt payroll," Bhandari claimed.
"From shielding terrorists to sheltering traitors - this is the Congress's real face," he charged on X.
There was no immediate reaction from the Congress on the BJP's charge.
Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said a detailed investigation should be done and all those involved should be arrested.
"I have come to know through media that the police have detained the PA of former minister Shale Mohammad on the charge of spying. This is definitely a matter of concern," he told reporters in Udaipur.
"This should be investigated properly and all the sources connected to him should be investigated and those who compromised and played with national security should be punished for their actions," he said.
BJP state president Madan Rathore said whoever is involved should be punished.
"Patriotism is expected from Congress leaders. Nothing is hidden from the PA who is working with the minister. He also has confidential information. If that person is working with the enemies of the country and giving them secret information, this is a matter of concern," he said.
Rathore said that there should be a thorough investigation for this.
"Whoever is involved should be punished. The entire channel should be caught. Just catching one person is not enough. Whoever is involved should be found out and strict action should be taken," he said.
"Everything will become clear from the investigation. If there is any kind of involvement of anyone else then that entire channel will be caught and action will be taken," he added.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
