Tarapur (Anand): On 19 October, right before he was arrested by Gujarat’s Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) for allegedly spying for Pakistan, Tarapur-based shopkeeper Labhshankar Maheshwari was in conversation with his neighbours.
He was telling them that he would be getting his phone back that day, after a nearly three-month investigation, when an ATS vehicle pulled up, according to Manish Vaishnav, a neighbouring shopkeeper.
Maheshwari was then arrested for “waging war against the Indian state”.
It is a charge that Maheshwari’s neighbours and acquaintances are still trying to wrap their heads around. Could Maheshwari — the “calm, composed and God-fearing” man they had known for years — be a traitor?
Born in Pakistan, Maheshwari is said to have come to India in 1999 with his wife, seeking fertility treatment in the hope of having a child.
He got Indian citizenship in 2005, and started helping his father-in-law run a grocery shop in Tarapur, which is located in Gujarat’s Anand district.
Maheshwari was arrested in a joint operation by the Military Intelligence and Gujarat ATS, for allegedly facilitating the acquisition of an Indian mobile phone number by Pakistani spy agency ISI that was used to target defence personnel with malware.
The investigators suspect he may have played a part in the conspiracy in his desperation to visit his ailing parents in Pakistan last year.
He has been booked under IPC sections 121A (conspiring to wage war against state), 123 (concealing with intent to facilitate design to wage war), and the Information Technology Act, an official of the Gujarat ATS said.
This all seems implausible to those who have known and interacted with Maheshwari over the past two decades.
“He has been a shopkeeper here for almost 25 years, and hasn’t had a single argument with a single soul in the entire area,” said Vaishnav. “We don’t believe he could be a spy for Pakistan.”
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‘He didn’t know what he was doing’
For years after coming to India, Maheshwari and his wife tried to have a child but failed. This left him deeply depressed and in search of spiritual guidance, Maheshwari’s brother-in-law told ThePrint.
In the early 2000s, Maheshwari and his family went to Mount Abu and got associated with the Brahma Kumaris’ Om Shanti Bhawan. “At Om Shanti, he learnt that if God is not willing for him to have a child, then that’s his life path and he must accept it.
“After that, he embraced his destiny and stopped wanting a child,” the brother-in-law said, requesting to not reveal his name.
Since his family’s association with Om Shanti began, Maheshwari started living a strict life. He would never eat outside, and hardly ever travelled, said people who know him closely.
He would go to the Tarapur Brahma Kumari centre every day at 6.30 in the morning and meditate, before coming to his shop, they added.
He led a life of renunciation and didn’t have any vice or addiction — not even tea. His entire life is said to have existed in the distance between his shop in Tarapur and the ashram in Mount Abu.
That changed when he got a call from his parents, who are still in Pakistan, in 2022.
“Labhshankar had not seen his parents for almost 25 years. They called him and asked him to come visit them in Pakistan as they’re on the verge of death,” said Vaishnav. “That’s when Maheshwari decided to travel to Pakistan with his wife.”
Suresh Bhai, another Tarapur shopkeeper, said one of Maheshwari’s distant cousins “then got in touch with him and helped him get a visa to Pakistan”.
He also asked him to bring a SIM card along, he added.
“Labhshankar did what he did out of desperation to see his parents. He didn’t even know what he was doing!” he said.
“He didn’t know how to use his phone at all. Whenever he wanted to hear Mata ke bhajan, I would play them on YouTube for him,” he added. “All he knows about a phone is to pick up and end calls.”
Tarapur residents said the ATS had been visiting Maheshwari for almost three months before his arrest, and he cooperated with their investigation. “He told me his only fault was buying the SIM,” said Vaishnav. “He didn’t know what the SIM could’ve been used for.”
Prayers for Maheshwari’s return
Maheshwari’s Tarapur acquaintances, who say they’ve told the ATS about his “good behaviour”, say they are praying for his release.
A group of 20-25 people prayed at a local temple for him, and have resolved to undertake the 5-day walk to Ramdevra Mandir in Ranuja with prayers for Maheshwari on their lips.
They say the “even-tempered devotee of Ram deserves this kind of mannat”.
“Just the fact that nobody in the business has boycotted him shows you that the man is of good character,” said Jairam Bhai, a dealer of tea leaves in the area who continues to do business with Maheshwari’s family.
“If we all did believe that he was a traitor, then we would’ve stopped going to his shop altogether, and broken our relationship with him,” he said.
None of Maheshwari’s acquaintances believes he was aware of the consequences of his actions. “He is a staunch Hinduwadi, an ardent supporter of Narendra Modi. He has always participated in patriotic days and movements like ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’,” said Vaishnav. “He’s not a terrorist. He just wanted to see his ailing parents.”
Speaking to ThePrint, an ATS official said the 53-year-old gave a SIM and a one-time-password to a Pakistani citizen and could not have been naive enough to not know what it was for.
“He knew what he was doing. He needed a visa to go to Pakistan, and he did what he needed to,” the officer said.
As Maheshwari waits it out in jail, his family says the spy tag has come with dreadful consequences for them.
“When someone gets involved in a crime of this magnitude, of course, there are problems in the society, and some relationships and friendships change,” said his brother-in-law.
(Edited by Sunanda Ranjan)
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