August 9, 2003	Saturday	Jumadi-us-Sani 10, 1424

NEW DELHI, Aug 8: Police in India’s capital briefly detained an employee of a nuclear facility for making telephone calls to Pakistan, freeing him after he explained he had been talking to his uncle.

Shariq Usmani, working on a project in the Defence Research and Development Organization, was picked up from his New Delhi home on Wednesday on suspicion of espionage, they said.

The police said they suspected Usmani of spying for Pakistan when they traced calls from his house to an address in Karachi three days ago.

Usmani was freed on Thursday after he said he had been speaking to one of his uncles. —AFP