PITHORAGARH /LUCKNOW: A native of Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand, who worked as a cook at the house of an Indian diplomat in Pakistan for nearly two years, was arrested on Tuesday night for allegedly working for Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) and leaking classified information in exchange of money.

Ramesh Singh, 35, was arrested from his house in Pithoragarh’s Garali village in a joint operation by UP’s Anti-Terror Squad (ATS), military intelligence and Uttarakhand police. Singh worked with an Indian defence attaché and bugged his house with the help of ISI to get sensitive information, police said. His elder brother worked with the Indian Army .

Singh was produced in Pithoragarh court on Wednesday from where he was taken to Lucknow on transit remand. UP ATS IG Asim Arun said Uttarakhand DGP had sought their help in the case a few months ago and directorate of military intelligence was also roped in.

Sources said Singh was into farming when a relative approached him with the offer of a job of cook in Pakistan. He then worked as a domestic help from mid-2015 to September 2017 at the residence of an Indian defence attaché in Pakistan.

Singh then came in contact with ISI, which offered him money against classified information from the diplomat’s house. The source said that Singh shared a diary and some documents of the diplomat with the ISI.

Anand Kumar, additional director general (law and order), told TOI: “He had bugged the residence of an Indian defence attaché in connivance with Pakistan’s ISI. This compromised the position of the diplomat. Singh later returned to India in 2017 where he settled his debts to the tune of Rs 8 lakh. As of now it is not clear how much money he had received from the ISI.”

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