Police in the Indian city of Pune deported an Iranian national last month after they discovered him spying on Israeli nationals and Jewish institutions in the city, the Pune Mirror reported on Thursday.
According to the report, 40-year-old Hamid Kashkouli, an Iranian PhD student at the University of Pune, was spying on the Chabad House in the city's Koregaon Park region and the Rasta Peth Synagogue in the city.
Kashkouli was on the payroll of the Iranian intelligence agency, according to the report.
“He came to India under the pretext of being a student but was keeping a close eye on the Jewish centers in Pune," the Mirror quoted a police official as saying. "He had collected information about visitors’ movements at the Chabad House and the synagogue which he forwarded to intelligence officials in Tehran,” he added.
Kashkouli's repeated trips to the Iranian Consulate in Mumbai roused the suspicions of the police, according to the report. His driver was also detained and questioned, telling police that Kashkouli was employed by the Iranian government and was often visited in Pune by top Iranian government officials.
Police intercepted email messages from Kashkouli which proved he was an undercover Iranian agent monitoring the movements of Jews in Pune. He was also in contact with Iranian nationals in Delhi, according to the Mirror.
Delhi was the site of a February 13 terror attack in which a suspect on a motorcycle attached a bomb to an Israeli Embassy car in transit, which blew up, injuring Tal Yehoshua Koren, wife of the Israeli defense attaché in India.
The Delhi Police’s Special Cell identified three Iranians as those responsible for the attack. Israel has accused the Iranian government and its proxy Hezbollah of orchestrating the Delhi attack as well as another terror plot against Israeli interests in Tblisi, Georgia uncovered on the same day and a botched terror attack in Bangkok, Thailand on February 14.