Manmad grocer arrested, cops say he may be ISI

The police have seized Arif8217;s passport stamped with a valid Pakistani visa, and a compact disc and two mobile phones. According to officials, the CD contains detailed information on the Indian Air Force8217;s striking capabilities and the number of missiles at various bases.

Arif was waiting to board the New Delhi-bound Goa-Nizamuddin Express at the local railway station, when he was arrested by the Manmad Police.

Sources told The Indian Express that a team of liaison intelligence officers of the Army8217;s Southern Command, MI, had been watching Arif for the past five months after a man named Mahendra Rishi was arrested in December last year from Jodhpur, Rajasthan while allegedly attempting to transmit sensitive information about military installations to Pakistani agents.

8216;8216;During questioning, Rishi revealed that he was part of an inter-state spy ring working for Pakistani intelligence agencies, which involved Arif and his cousin Irfan,8217;8217; said an official. Irfan is yet to arrested.

Intelligence agencies suspect that the agents had set up an extensive network of contacts in Ahmednagar, which is the nerve centre of India8217;s mechanised forces and has military establishments like the Armoured Corps Centre and School and Mechanised Infantry Regimental Centre, besides DRDO8217;s sensitive Vehicles Research and Development Establishment that recently rolled out an unmanned ground vehicle to combat terrorism.

Arif is a resident of Borauke chawl in Sreerampur and owns a grocery and medical store there. He was produced before a magistrate on Tuesday and remanded to police custody till August 15 after investigating officer Srinivas Patil told the court that it was essential to take him to Delhi for interrogation.