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Expelled Indian scientist had nothing to do with espionage: US secretary

United States Energy Secretary Bill Richardson has denied that any Indian scientist was expelled from the Los Alamos laboratory on account of espionage.

He made this denial in response to a story in the latest issue of Newsweek magazine alleging that ''last year Los Alamos expelled an Indian scientist when it was discovered he had ties with India's nuclear-bomb programme.''

Clarifying the situation on a television programme, Richardson said, ''it doesn't have anything to do with espionage.''

The secretary said, ''When India detonated their nuclear weapon, sanctions from US legislation were triggered, and the US was forced to expel scientists. This scientist was doing unclassified work at Los Alamos. He had a connection with a nuclear institute in India that causes concern, so the lab, under deputy secretary Betsy Moeller, determined that he should be expelled. One or two others were also expelled from some of our science labs, but it was not because of espionage. It was because India took that negative step of detonating a nuclear weapon last year.''

UNI

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