Jaisalmer: Manager of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) guesthouse at the strategic Field Firing Range in Pokhran, Rajasthan, has been detained by the police on charges of passing on information to Pakistani Intelligence Operatives or PIOs.
Mahendra Prasad, a resident of Uttarakhand’s Almora, who has been working at the guest house since 2019, is now being interrogated by a Joint Interrogation Committee (JIC). An FIR will be registered and Prasad will be formally arrested after the JIC gets to know exactly what information he shared with the Pakistanis.
Till now, it has been known that he sent PDF documents with the list of officials staying at the guesthouse for the last five years. With the help of the lists, Pakistan could figure out the kind of experiments or tests being carried out at the range, situated barely 200 km from the international border.
Sources said that Prasad was picked up by the Jaisalmer Police on Tuesday after a complaint by a DRDO official staying at the guesthouse. A preliminary check of his mobile phone revealed that he was in regular touch with PIOs and sent the documents.
The JIC questioning Prasad comprises officials of intelligence agencies and the Border Security Force (BSF). The officials are trying to ascertain exactly how much damage he caused over the last few years.
It has been learnt that he was at the guesthouse even during Operation Sindoor when Pakistan targeted several military targets in India, including Air Force Station Jaisalmer.
Agencies have been on high alert since the Pahalgam terror strike of April 22 and several individuals, including armed forces and central armed police forces personnel, social media influencers and YouTubers have been arrested on charges of spying for Pakistan.
“This is certainly an eye opener. Had Operation Sindoor not taken place, we may never have known the extent of the network that Pakistani spy agencies have in India. They have managed to tap into all classes of people,” an official said.
