New Delhi, January 13: Indian officials were today given consular access to 21 Indians held in China for alleged diamond smuggling even as External Affairs Minister S M Krishna said any linkage between these detentions and arrest of three Chinese in BALCO fire case will be “speculative.”
According to information available here, two officials – one from Indian Embassy and another from the Consulate in Shenzhen – met the detainees one by one.
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said the people, detained on Friday last, are being “apparently well looked after”. The Indian Mission is helping them and legal assistance is being arranged for them by the Indian Embassy, she said.
Asked if he thinks that the arrest of Chinese engineers in the BALCO incident has any relation with these detentions, Krishna said, “whatever we say it will be speculative. Let’s not indulge in that game of speculation.
–Agencies