Kathmandu: Nepal has expelled a Pakistani Embassy official, recently apprehended with counterfeit Indian currency worth over Rs 45,000, even as India drew Kathmandu's attention at the "unnecessary" staff strength of 30 at Islamabad's Mission in Kathmandu.

Mohammed Masood, an upper division clerk at the Embassy, was nabbed on August 18 by a special police team at a restaurant in Nayabaneshwor after he allegedly tried to pay the bill with fake money. He was also found carrying fake Indian currency worth Rs 45,000.

Pakistan Ambassador Zamin Akram was summoned by Foreign Ministry on August 23 and told that Masood has 72 hours to leave the country.

Appreciating Nepal government's actions, India's Ambassador Shyam Saran has drawn Kathmandu's attention to the unnecessarily large number of staff in Pakistan's Mission in Kathmandu, an Indian Embassy source said.

While there are only six staffers in Nepalese Embassy in Islamabad, what is the logic behind deputing 30 staffers by Pakistan in its Embassy in Kathmandu with very little work to perform, the Ambassador has asked in a letter written to the Nepal government, the source said.

Pakistan Mission staff had been involved in carrying RDX and counterfeit currency since 1998, the source quoted the Ambassador as saying in the letter.

PTI