Officials, diplomats, and policy planners in think tanks reacted with shock and disbelief on the arrest of Ashley Tellis , an Indian-origin former U.S. government official, who has been charged by the U.S. Department of Justice of being in possession of secret defence documents, of accessing sensitive information on military hardware, and was under surveillance over meetings with Chinese officials for at least three years.

Mr. Tellis, 64, is a well-known figure and public speaker in foreign policy circles, and knew most officials handling the India-U.S. relationship in Delhi and Washington over the past decades, since his tenure as Special Assistant to the former U.S. Ambassador to India Robert Blackwill (2000-2003).

The news was particularly surprising for officials of the Ministry of

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