A Sri Lankan national was arrested by the Indian National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday in Chennai for spying in India on behalf of Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI). Arun Selvarajan, sources said, was caught with pictures of Officers Training Academy and NSG hub in Chennai apart from other vital installations.

Sources said he is part of the ring of spies recruited by Pakistani diplomat in Sri Lanka Amir Zubair Siddiqui. It was to this ring that Chennai resident Thameem Ansari, arrested in September 2012, belonged.

NIA sources said Selvarajan was carrying two passports and had gained entry into vital installations such as the NSG hub in Chennai as an event manager. He had also recced crowded places in Chennai for suspected terror attacks in future. “He was being handled by one Saage in Pakistan embassy in Sri Lanka after Siddiqui was sent back by Pakistan government recently,” said an officer privy to investigation details.

Sources said it was Saage who had helped him procure an Indian passport and established a business of event management in India some three years ago for him.

An NIA statement said Selvarajan “has been indulging in espionage activities at the instigation of a neighbouring country. He is found in possession of two passports i.e., from Sri Lanka and India. He is learnt to have gained access to certain vital installations in the guise of managing events. He was passing on information using internet communication tools. Incriminating evidence has been seized from him which is under scrutiny.”

Sources said Selvarajan also has criminal cases pending against him in Sri Lanka and a lookout circular was pending against him.

Thameem Ansari, a native of Thanjavur, was arrested during an IB-Q branch joint operation while he was on his way to Trichy airport carrying a digital dossier on south Indian defence installations in the third week of September. He was scheduled to catch a flight to Colombo the day he was arrested.

A failed onion trader, Ansari was contacted by Pakistani agent Shaji when he was in Colombo. Pakistani diplomat Siddiqui is suspected to be their handler.

Ansari was caught with CDs and a pen drive that had data on important military areas and also landing points on the southern coastline. He was carrying a DVD of training paratroopers landing in some desert and also a Signal Corps parade. He was also carrying visuals the Indian Army insignia that army officers wear on their shirts, Times of India reports.