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Report: India expels 'Iranian who stalked Israelis'
Pune Mirror says Mumbai authorities deported 'Iranian agent' who was surveilling Jewish sites in western city and relaying information to Tehran
India deported a 40-year-old Iranian national in March after he was suspected of surveilling Jewish sites in Pune, in the western Indian state of Maharashtra.
According to a Thursday report in the Pune Mirror, authorities detained and later deported Hamid Kashkouli, a local PhD candidate with the University of Pune (UoP), after he was found spying on city-based Israeli nationals and Israeli centers such as the Chabad House in Koregaon Park.
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Indian authorities say Kashkouli was on the Iranian intelligence's payroll.
"He came to India under the pretext of being a student but was keeping a close eye on the Jewish centers in Pune," an official told the paper.
"He had collected information about visitors’ movements at the Chabad House and the synagogue which he forwarded to intelligence officials in Tehran," he added.
According to the report, Indian intelligence officials first zeroed in on Kashkouli's movements in January 2011, when they stumbled upon the fact that he failed to make any progress in his thesis, titled "Foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran during the presidency of Khatmi," in four years.
Authorities then discovered that despite being a student, Kashkouli did not have a student or research visa.
The report added that inquires vis-à-vis the Iranian Consulate in Mumbai revealed he was listed as a government employee.
Indian intelligence then intercepted his emails, substantiating that he was an undercover agent for the Iranian government, the report said.
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