Totally wrong to say Surjeet sent to Pak as spy: Centre

The central government today described as "completely wrong" that Surjeet Singh, the Indian prisoner who returned from Pakistan on Thursday, had been sent by intelligence agencies to that country as a spy.

The central government on Friday described as "completely wrong" that Surjeet Singh, the Indian prisoner who returned from Pakistan on Thursday, had been sent by intelligence agencies to that country as a spy.

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Union home secretary Raj Kumar Singh said it was completely wrong to say that Surjeet was sent by Indian intelligence agencies for espionage in Pakistan.

"We do not accept this. It is completely wrong. We deny it. We do not do this kind of thing (spying on other countries). Neither we do spying, nor we send spies," he said at a press conference here.

He was replying to a question on Surjeet's claim that he was sent to Pakistan by an Indian intelligence agency for espionage.

"If someone is claiming (that he was a spy), he is doing so just to get importance or for some other reasons. We deny it," he said.

Asked about the ill-treatment meted out to Indian prisoners in Pakistan, the home secretary said, "We have taken note of that."