New Delhi: India on December 18 demanded immediate release of Polaris Software Labs chief Arun Jain and a senior company official detained in Jakarta since Saturday (Dec 14) over a commercial dispute while assuring Indonesian authorities that if required for questioning they would make themselves available.

Intervening at the political level, External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha spoke to his Indonesian counterpart Hassan Wirayuda this evening and conveyed to him "very strongly that the two gentlemen should be released immediately", foreign office spokesman Navtej Sarna told reporters.

For the second time in two days, Indonesian Ambassador to India Zakaria Soemintaa Tmadja was summoned to the foreign office today (Dec 18) where Secretary Abhyankar expressed India's "urgent concern" that this case should be resolved as soon as possible.

Jain and Polaris senior vice president Rajiv Malhotra were detained in Jakarta on charges of alleged deception and fraud over an agreement with Bank Artha Graha.

"This is a commercial dispute and that is the entire point of our taking this up in strong terms," Sarna said adding such disputes have got commercial methods of being handled which includes arbitration process.

PTI