PUNE, 21 February 2008 — Convicted Pakistani spy Sayeed Ahmed Mohammed Desai, who escaped from Pune police custody on Jan. 24, was arrested in Kolkata while trying to flee to Pakistan via Bangladesh.
Police Inspector Bhanupratap Barge told reporters late on Tuesday Desai was arrested in Begbazaar area on Feb. 16.
Javed Shamim, deputy commissioner of Kolkata police, confirmed the arrest of Desai to Arab News. Shamim said since Desai did not have a passport or a visa, a case was filed against him at Karaya police station in Kolkata. He was arrested and produced before a magistrate who remanded him to judicial custody till Feb. 24.
After examining calls made by Desai to sacked Indian Army soldier Shailesh Jadhav, who was arrested for links with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence, Pune police identified the three telephone numbers in Kolkata which were provided to the Kolkata police. Subsequently, police combed the area were the calling booth was located and finally arrested Desai.
Inspector Barge said Desai was unaware of Jadhav’s arrest and hence continued to call him on his mobile phone.
Desai made the mistake of contacting Jadhav. He called Jadhav from Belgaum, Hyderabad and Kolkata.
Meanwhile, police confirmed that Jadhav had received 50,000 Indian rupees from ISI in three installments. The police also received an e-mail in which Jadhav told an ISI official that he was capable of providing information which they may not get even by spending millions of rupees. The Yerawada prison authorities here have launched a probe into how Jadhav, a convict, shared barracks with Desai, who was then undergoing trial. The prison manual states that the convicts and under trials are not allowed to stay together or mingle.
A team of Pune police yesterday left for Kolkata to bring Desai after obtaining a production order from a court.
Haj Committee Criticizes Air-India
The Air-India staff members in Jeddah were criticized by the members of the Central Haj Committee for treating Haj pilgrims badly.
During the meeting, Haj committee members complained that the services provided by Air-India were sub-standard and said they would meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and urge the federal government to allow private airlines to carry out Haj operation.
They also alleged that Air-India flights to Jeddah were delayed for hours and in some cases pilgrims were informed about their departure only a day in advance. In some cases baggage of pilgrims reached two to three days late.
Air-India spokesman Jitendra Bhargava dismissed the allegations that pilgrims were ill treated by Air-India staff. “Delays were due to constraints at the Jeddah airport. “Air-India, with nine flights a day, has six counters per flight in India whereas Jeddah airport provides only four counters. This leads to the delay, which affects subsequent flights. We can do little about the constraints at Jeddah,” Bhargava added.
