Australia expels Indian spies

Kathmandu, 1 May: Australia on Tuesday has expelled Indian spies involved in certain secret operations.

Indian spies who were caught trying to “steal secrets” about sensitive defence projects and airport security, as well as classified information on trade relationships have been expelled, said Hindustan Times (HT) quoting Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

However, the number of spies expelled has not been specified.

There is no immediate reaction from the Indian government, it added.

The revelation by ABC comes immediately after the report of the Washington Post on Tuesday in which India made a sharp reaction calling “unwarranted” and “unsubstantiated”.

The Washington Post citing an unmanned source, identified –Vikram Yadav-  an officer in Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) for the involvement in an attempt to assassinate Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, pro-Khalistan leader.

 “We continue to expect accountability from the Government of India based on the results of the Indian inquiry committee’s work, and we are regularly working with them and enquiring for additional updates. We’ll also continue to raise our concerns directly with the Indian Government at senior levels, but beyond that, I’m not going to parse into this further and will defer to the Department of Justice,” HT quotes US State Department principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel’s media briefing.

The United States, last year, had made allegations on India following a plot to murder Pannun on the former’s soil. India, subsequently, had formed a high level investigation committee.