October 24, 2003	Friday	Sha’aban 27, 1424

NEW DELHI, Oct 23: A leading Indian nuclear scientist is believed to have helped Iran build its nuclear power plant, a report said on Thursday.

The Hindustan Times said Dr Y. S. R. Prasad took up an assignment in Iran after he retired in July 2000 as head of the Nuclear Corporation of India.

The newspaper, quoting from a classified government document, said Prasad, who spent years working on India’s atomic energy programmes, did not seek government permission to go to Iran.

It said that while the scientist did not break any rules, the government was now seeking to make it compulsory for India’s nuclear experts to seek government approval for foreign assignments.

It quoted government sources as saying that while New Delhi and Tehran do have a strategic partnership, they do not collaborate in nuclear programmes.

Meanwhile, a director of an Indian company accused of exporting chemicals to Iraq for its missiles programmes has been denied bail in a New Delhi court, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.—AFP