'Completely wrong' to say Surjeet Singh was sent to Pakistan as spy: Government

NEW DELHI: Government today described as "completely wrong" that Surjeet Singh, the Indian prisoner who has just returned from Pakistan, had been sent by intelligence agencies to that country as a spy.

Union Home Secretary Raj Kumar Singh said it was completely wrong to say that Surjeet Singh 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".