Friday, December 16 2005 09:35 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Pune: A Pakistani national, who was arrested from a Jodhpur hotel on charges of spying, was yesterday (Dec 15, 2005) remanded to police custody for 13 days by a court in Jaipur.

In a joint operation carried out by the Rajasthan Police (intelligence) and Central Intelligence Bureau, 28-year-old Mahendra Kumar Rishi was arrested from a hotel in Jodhpur last night and was taken to Jaipur.

A computer professional and resident of Hyderabad in Pakistan's Sind province, Mahendra, who was illegally staying in India for the last couple of years, had been visiting the towns of Barmer, Jodhpur, Jaipur, Surat, Mumbai, Pune and Ahmedabad for spying for the neighbouring country's military intelligence, sources in the Southern Command said here today.

The Indian intelligence agencies were hot on Mahendra Kumar's trail ever since his existence as a spy for Pakistan's military intelligence came to light after the arrest of some ISI operatives two years ago in Hyderabad and disclosures of his email-IDs.

Continuous scanning of the accuser's email-IDs led to the identification of the address of the internet protocol by the Military Intelligence of Southern Command and Central Intelligence Bureau and resulted in Mahendra Kumar's arrest.

He was produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Jaipur who remanded him to police custody for 13 days, the sources said.