Pak mission..

“The foreign secretary also strongly conveyed to the Pak high commissioner that the Pak high commission must ensure that none of its members indulge in activities inimical to India…,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.

Police said they were alerted by intelligence agencies and were watching Akhtar for six months. On Wednesday, they were tipped off that the men would be meeting near Delhi zoo. “The Pakistan high commission official was the kingpin. The module was active for one-and-a-half years,” Yadav said.

Akhtar recruited Khan (50), a teacher in a Nagaur mosque, and Jangir (37) a vegetable vendor, and sought information about Rajasthan and neigbouring Gujarat, both states share land and maritime boundaries with Pakistan.

Along with maps and deployment details, the men were also carrying a list of names of serving and retried BSF men, Yadav said. Police suspect Akhtar may have honey-trapped personnel to extract information.

Akhtar initially insisted he was a Delhi man but admitted later that he worked in the Pakistan high commission and requested that the mission be informed.

“He stated that he had joined the Baloch Regiment of the Pakistan army in 1997 and came on deputation to the Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) in 2013,” Swarup said.

Basit lodged a protest with Jaishankar over what he said was “detention and manhandling of Pakistan high commission staffer” in violation of the 1961 Vienna convention. Pakistan foreign office, too, took strong exception to the expulsion. “This act clearly reflects Indian actions to shrink diplomatic space for the working of Pakistan high commission,” it said.