Patna/Motihari, Oct. 14: Sleuths of the Intelligence Bureau arrested a Nepal-based Indian-origin ISI agent, Pramod Kushwaha, from East Champaran district on Friday.

Ten passports, six Nepalese SIM cards, fake currency and documents establishing his links with Pakistan were also recovered from him.

Kushwaha, a native of Sheetalpur village under Raxaul police station, used to operate from Nepal. Wanted by the Mumbai police for his involvement in a fake currency racket, Kushwaha is also booked in a case in Punjab. He is at present being interrogated by the officials of RAW, CBI, directorate of revenue intelligence, IB, CID and police.

Additional director-general of police and spokesman of Bihar police, P.N Rai, said Kushwaha was arrested during a raid at Yadavpur village under Harsiddhi police station in East Champaran district. “At present, Kushwaha is being quizzed by the sleuths of various central and state investigating agencies,” he said.

Sources in the Intelligence Bureau said Kushwaha, kingpin of the fake Indian currency racket, used to operate in India under the pseudonyms of Vikas and Srivastava. He was tasked to pump fake Indian currency notes from Nepal through porous India-Nepal border at three alternative points — Biratnagar (Nepal), Patna and Calcutta.

Kushwaha’s name came up after the arrest of an Indian Army personnel, Ritesh Vishwakarma of Raxaul, in Mumbai for the latter’s alleged involved in espionage at the instance of Nepal-based Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs).