Reports of Indian man calling Khar's cell phone bogus: FO

Khar did not receive any call; media reports are baseless, says Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit.

Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit has snubbed reports about an abusive call to Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar’s cell phone from an Indian man and termed them as “baseless”, Hindustan Times reported on Monday.

According to earlier media reports, the Indian man, identified as Ambaresh, from the southern state of Karnataka was questioned for allegedly calling Khar on her mobile phone, but was released without any charges. The call had lasted 15 minutes and the caller had abused Khar, reports had said.

“She did not receive any call; the media reports are baseless,” said Basit.

He also termed the reports about the call as “totally groundless”.

Media reports said the inquiry was launched into the call, made two months ago, when the Pakistani Foreign Office asked New Delhi to probe the incident. Ambaresh, who works as a tutor, was then tracked down by officers from the Intelligence Bureau and the crime branch.

After the investigation, Ambaresh had told the Indian media that he had “never heard of Khar.” He also said that he did not know Urdu or English to abuse the foreign minister and had also speculated that one of his students might have used his phone to make the call.