The Delhi Police have made two more arrests – Shoaib and Fahat – in connection with an espionage racket. While the police had earlier said that visa agent Shoaib would be arrested soon, Fahat is believed to be a close aide of SP leader Chaudhary Munabbar Saleem. Shoaib was produced before a city court that sent him to 12-day police custody on Friday. The police had arrested Maulana Ramzan and Subhash Jangiron Thursday in connection with the same case.

Joint Commissioner of Police (crime) Ravindra Yadav told The Hindu that Shoaib was first detained in Jodhpur and later brought to Delhi. He was allegedly in touch with Mehmood Akhtar, a Pakistan High Commission staffer who was declared persona non-grata for indulging in espionage.

Akhtar during his interrogation had claimed that an Indian Space Research Organisation official provided him "sensitive information". Akhtar also revealed the names of eight other Inter-Services Intelligence agents in the Pakistan High Commission, a police officer told The Indian Express.

The police seized a "phablet" and some documents from Shoaib. According to Yadav, Shoaib has visited Pakistan, where his maternal grandparents live, at least six times. According to another police officer, Shoaib was entrusted with the job of collecting vital information about Army installations on India’s western border. Officers said that all the three accused will confront each other and will be taken to various places for the investigation, reported dna. The police are on the lookout for more people in the case.

Ramzan and Jangir were arrested for leaking documents to Akhtar. The documents recovered from the spies included papers on deployment of defence personnel, maps of where Border Security Force officers had been stationed and visa-related documents. Later that day, Islamabad ordered Indian diplomat Surjeet Singh to leave the country within 48 hours. “The activities of Surjeet Singh in Islamabad were in violation of Vienna Convention and established diplomatic norms,” Pakistan’s foreign office had said.

In November 2015, five people were arrested after a syndicate of spies associated with Pakistani intelligence was exposed. A few employees of the Pakistan High Commission had come under the radar after the operation.