Jaipur: Mahendra Prasad, the manager of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) guest house in Jaisalmer, has been arrested by Rajasthan Police on charges of spying for Pakistan after substantial evidence was gathered against him. A resident of Almora in Uttarakhand, Prasad was posted as the manager of the DRDO guest house in the Chandan area of Jaisalmer. He was detained on August 4 following intelligence inputs against him, and after a joint interrogation in Jaipur, he was formally arrested on Tuesday night.

On Wednesday, he was produced before a Jaipur court, which sent him to a two-day police remand. Investigating officer Vinod Meena said, “The accused had shared information related to missile testing and the movement of scientists with a Pakistani handler via social media.” He explained, “Information about which scientists were coming and what kind of work they were doing was being shared by Mahendra with a Pakistani handler.”

The officer further stated that Prasad was tracked over time and that sufficient evidence was gathered before his detention, interrogation, and eventual arrest. “During interrogation, it was revealed that Mahendra had been in contact with Pakistani intelligence operatives via social media platforms for a long time. He had been passing on information about missile trials and DRDO activities to them,” Meena said.

According to investigators, Prasad had access to sensitive details regarding the visits of Indian scientists and DRDO officers to the firing range for various technical operations, including missile trials, which he allegedly relayed to his Pakistani contacts.

With inputs from PTI