Who is Sayyed Amir Ali, the man alleged to be a Pakistani spy, and how did he get an Indian passport or photos of sensitive defence installations? These are the questions the Delhi Police is now urgently trying to answer.
The two men, identified as Mohammad Arshad and Chand Mohammad Lucknow-based property agents who doubled up as touts and faked documents for people, are a part of the answer.
They have now been arrested in Lucknow by the Delhi police, but NDTV has got the following information about the alleged Pakistan spy:
- He stayed in Lucknow's Gomti Nagar area
- Worked as an employee at an electrical shop, and later became its co-owner
- He even filed Income Tax Returns for 2004, 2005 and 2006
- He had a forged UP board class 10 certificate from a Lucknow college
- He had a genuine Indian passport but with an address that didn't exist
So, were these men the only ones or were there others involved in the conspiracy as well? The Delhi police will now be interrogating them and also take them to other cities to find out.
However, the Uttar Pradesh police now suspect an insider in the Lucknow passport office who may even have known the true identity of this alleged spy.
"The Local Intelligence Unit (LIU) and local police are not involved and we're investigating for further details," said A K Jain, ADG, Law and Order.
Sources say it's quite easy to get a valid passport without actually checking the details by paying some money to the verifying officials. It is this apparent ease with which these documents can be acquired that has intelligence sources worried as they have allowed an alleged Pakistani spy to get an official cover in India.
