The Congress party on Friday claimed that two of the 11 alleged ISI agents arrested from the city have links with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The party also issued a photograph of one of the accused Dhruv Saxena with BJP's national General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya in support of its claim.
The BJP, however, trashed the allegation.
The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Thursday busted an espionage ring in Bhopal and arrested 11 persons allegedly working for Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and passing sensitive information of strategic importance to their masters across the border.
The ATS also unearthed several clandestine telephone exchanges, thousands of SIM cards and a large number of mobile phones used for establishing contact with the Pakistan-based ISI officials, according to police.
Releasing a Facebook photograph of Saxena with Vijayvargiya, Madhya Pradesh Congress' chief spokesperson K.K. Mishra said: "Those swearing in the name of Hindutva and patriotism are now providing shelter to Pakistani spies."
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"While, on one hand, Vijayvargiya is not tired of visiting and assuring the blast victims of all posible help, on the other, now his link with someone who works as a spy for Pakistan has surfaced," Mishra said.
One of the arrested persons, Jitendra Thakur, is also said to come from the family of a BJP Councillor of Gwalior. Besides, the Congress has also released several posters showing some other BJP leaders with Saxena, apart from Vijayvargiya.
Defending BJP leaders' photographs with Saxena, media cell chief of the state BJP Lokendra Parashar said: "Once in public life, it becomes difficult to keep track of the people meeting you. As for Dhruv Saxena, we are trying to find out whether he is a party member at all."
In a related development, Congress leader and former Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh launched an indirect attack on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and other pro-Hindutva outfits, saying none of the 11 arrested is a Muslim.
"Not one of the 11 persons arrested is a Muslim, but two of them have links with the BJP. It's time for the 'Modi-bhakts' to give it a thought," he said in a tweet in Hindi.
--IANS
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