Barnes refutes Jaswant Singh's claim

New Delhi, Aug 2: Former US Ambassador to India Harry Barnes today refuted senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh's claim saying he had never received a letter from one Thomas Graham which spoke about a mole in the Prime Minister's Office.

Mr Barnes, who was the US Ambassador to India from 1981-1985, told NDTV in an interview that he was not in India in 1995 when the letter was supposedly written.

He however, admitted that he knew Thomas Graham who was a representative of the Rockefeller Centre in New York.

Mr Barnes denied when asked whether he had any access to information regarding India's plans to conduct a nuclear test or about the deployment of Prithvi missiles.

Asked whether he communicated with Mr Graham, Mr Barnes said ''Yes. Off and on, along with matters concerning other countries.'' However, in 1995, Mr Barnes said he was not in India but at the Carter Centre as the director of the conflict resolution and human rights programmes.

He said he was in India when Mr Narasimha Rao was the External Affairs Minister and not when he was the Prime Minister.

Mr Barnes also said he was never contacted by Mr Jaswant Singh about the letter.

UNI