Kulbhushan Jadhav was allegedly arrested in the Chaman area of Balochistan on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border on March 3, 2016.
Pakistan said he was a serving Indian naval officer and accused him of working for India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). Pakistan also produced a passport (No. L9630722), purportedly belonging to him, which showed his assumed name as ‘Hussein Mubarak Patel’, born in Sangli, Maharashtra, and living in Powai, as well as a valid Iranian visa in his name.
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India denied that he had any links to its government but said that he was running a business in the Iranian port city of Chabahar after a “premature retirement” from the Navy. India was denied consular access to him.
The Ministry of External Affairs said he was facing “harassment” and had probably been kidnapped from Iran.
There were some reports that the Taliban had sold him off to Pakistan.
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On March 29, 2016, Jadhav was seen in a video saying he was a RAW official. In the video, played at a press conference of the Inter Services Public Relations of the Pakistan military, he said he left the Navy to join RAW in 2013 and went to Chabahar to set up a business outlet there to carry out “operations” in Balochistan and Karachi.
Pakistan has protested several times over what it calls India's support to Baloch national groups, waging an insurgency in Pakistan. India has denied the charge, but this was the first time that Pakistan alleged it has arrested a serving officer of RAW.
Jadhav's death sentence was approved by Pakistan’s Army chief on Monday.