Kulbhushan Jadhav

In January 2019, Vikram Sood who headed R&AW from 2000-2003 claimed that Pakistan had no leverage over India on Jadhav. He claimed, "No spy worth his salt will be caught with his passport. The charges against him are laughable."

On 17 July 2019, the ICJ, in its verdict, rejected India's appeal for Jadhav's release and directed Pakistan to allow consular access and effectively review the death sentence. The court observed that Pakistan had breached international law by not granting consular access. Pakistan and India both claimed victory and welcomed the judgement of ICJ.

On 10 April 2017, Jadhav was sentenced to death by a Field General Court Martial in Pakistan. On 18 May 2017, the International Court of Justice stayed the execution pending the final judgement on the case. On 17 July 2019, the court rejected India's appeal for Jadhav's release and ordered Pakistan to suspend the execution. It ruled that Pakistan will have to review the entire process of trial and conviction of Kulbhushan Jadhav and provide India with consular access. Pakistan granted consular access to India, once. However subsequent request were blocked.

On 10 April 2017, Jadhav was sentenced to death by a Field General Court Martial (FGCM) in Pakistan, following a confession before the magistrate and court. Jadhav's trial lasted three and a half months and the charges he was convicted for included spying for India, waging war against Pakistan, sponsoring terrorism, and destabilising the state. He was tried in a military court due to his naval background and the sensitive nature of his case, involving espionage and sabotage. The sentence was confirmed by army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa, and released via the ISPR. Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif stated that under the provisions of the Pakistan Army Act of 1952, Jadhav had the right to appeal against his conviction on three appellate forums within 40 days.

India accused Pakistan for denying consular access to Jadhav despite several requests. Pakistan, it was said, had also not informed India about Jadhav's trial. As of 2 July 2017, the number of denied consular access stood at 18.

In a statement issued in the Parliament of India on 11 April 2017, Rajnath Singh, India's Minister of Home Affairs, reiterated that Jadhav was kidnapped by Pakistani agencies from Iran and put through trial as a RAW agent. Sushma Swaraj, India's Minister of External Affairs said there was no evidence of any wrongdoing by Jadhav and termed his sentencing an act of "premeditated murder". Swaraj said that if Pakistan implemented the death sentence, the bilateral relations between both countries would face dire consequences.

In May 2017, India approached the International Court of Justice (ICJ), asserting that Pakistani authorities were denying India its right of consular access to Jadhav in violation of the Vienna Convention.

The ICJ proceedings began in The Hague on 15 May to review the case. India and Pakistan both sent their legal teams to put forward their arguments, led by Harish Salve and Khawar Qureshi respectively. On 18 May 2017, the International Court of Justice stayed the hanging of Jadhav.

On 22 June 2017, Pakistani sources confirmed that Jadhav had sought clemency from the country's army chief following his conviction. Pakistan also released a new confessional video of Jadhav, in which he stated that he visited Karachi twice for gathering intelligence on naval facilities. He also admitted to supporting and funding, on behalf of India's RAW, Baloch militants affiliated with the BLA and BRA, in addition to infiltrating and establishing "30 to 40 RAW operatives along the Makran Coast" for involvement in terrorist activities. Jadhav said that RAW's activities in Balochistan and Sindh were conducted under the direction of Anil Kumar Dhasmana. India's Foreign Ministry again dismissed the confession as "false propaganda", stating that Pakistan was trying to influence ICJ proceedings while denying the consular rights to Jadhav. ICJ did not allow Pakistan to play the video during the hearing.

The Pakistani government said that he was a serving commander in the Indian Navy who was involved in subversive activities inside Pakistan and was arrested on 3 March 2016 during a counter-intelligence operation in Balochistan. The Indian government recognised Jadhav as a former naval officer but denied any current links with him and maintained that he took premature retirement and was abducted from Iran.

According to the Pakistani government, on 3 March 2016, Jadhav was arrested inside Balochistan in Mashkel near the border region of Chaman. He was arrested during a counterintelligence raid conducted by security forces. India denied the claim and said he was abducted from Iran.

In April 2016, Islamabad briefed diplomats of various countries regarding Jadhav's arrest and his claimed involvement in terrorist activities. The evidence was also shared with the United States and United Kingdom. Separately, Pakistan's Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan held a meeting with the Iranian ambassador. In September, Pakistan prepared a dossier outlining evidence of Indian-sponsored terrorism and provided it to the United Nations Secretary General. It included Jadhav's details.

According to Indian newspaper and news channel NDTV, in December 2016, Sartaj Aziz, who functioned as the then Pakistan's Foreign Minister, told members of the country's senate that there was insufficient evidence presented of Jadhav's alleged espionage. "What the dossier contained on Indian spy Kulbhushan Yadav were mere statements. It did not have any conclusive evidence." and that they were waiting for more details.

In an interview to India Today, Basit said Pakistan held sufficient evidence against Jadhav and that it was shared with the Indian government. He also said that Jadhav was given a fair trial, including the right to seek clemency. This was in contrast to his stand before the senate in December 2016.

Asim Bajwa told the press that Jadhav converted to Islam, adopted a false identity and worked at Gadani under the cover of a scrap dealer. He stated that Jadhav established a network of operatives, provided funds, arranged to smuggle people into the country for the purpose of terrorism and reportedly purchased boats at the Iranian port in Chabahar to target Karachi and Gwadar ports in an alleged terrorist plot. According to him, Jadhav's goal was to sabotage the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor through propaganda – with Gwadar port as a special target – and also to create disharmony among the Baloch nationalist political parties. He also said that Jadhav told the interrogators to use a code phrase – "your monkey is with us" – to inform his handlers and the Indian authorities about his arrest. Asim also claimed to have confiscated maps from him and enunciated that there could be no clearer evidence of foreign interference in Pakistan. He termed the arrest of an intelligence or an armed forces officer of his rank a big achievement.

According to Indian sources, Jadhav was abducted by Pakistan's forces from the Iran–Pakistan border and Pakistan fabricated his documents and leaked them without realising there were glaring inconsistencies in the same. According to sections of Indian media, the Sunni group Jaish ul-Adl is responsible for the kidnapping of Jadhav from the Iran–Pakistan border.

Some Indian intelligence officials also alleged that Jadhav was abducted from the Iran–Pakistan border by an extremist radical group called Jaishul Adil. Jaishul Adil, designated a terrorist organisation by Iran, is linked to Al Qaeda and has been often accused of targeting Iranian border guards. They also pointed to the inconsistencies between the claims made by Balochistan minister Sarfaraz Bugti that Jadhav was picked up from Chaman on the Afghan border, and those made by General Bajwa that he was picked from Saravan.

In the video, Jadhav also revealed that he had been directing various activities in Karachi and Balochistan on instructions from RAW since 2013 and had a role in the deteriorating law and order situation in Karachi. While giving details of these activities, Jadhav said:

The Indian Ministry of External Affairs claimed that Jadhav was an Indian Navy officer but had retired prematurely and he had no current link with the government since his retirement. The Indian High Commission also sought consular access to Jadhav but Pakistan did not agree to it. Pakistan's diplomat to India said that consular access wasn't automatic during cases related to security, explaining Jadhav had been travelling "under a fake name with an original Indian passport" since 2003.

Pakistani media has also reported that he began to gather information and intelligence within India after the 2001 attack on the Parliament of India. After 14 years of service, he was inducted into intelligence operations in 2003 and established a small business in Chabahar in Iran from where he made several undetected visits to Karachi and Balochistan.

Jadhav is married and has two children. His family resides in Powai, Mumbai. According to reports in the Pakistani media, Jadhav joined the Indian National Defence Academy in 1987 and was commissioned in the engineering branch of the Indian Navy in 1991.

Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav (also spelled Kulbhushan Yadav, reported alias Hussain Mubarak Patel) (born 16 April 1970) is an Indian national. he was arrested in the Pakistani province of Balochistan on charges of terrorism and spying for India's intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing. On 10 April 2017, Indian foreign ministry said he had been "kidnapped last year from Iran and his subsequent presence in Pakistan has never been explained credibly".

Jadhav was born in Sangli, Maharashtra, on 16 April 1970 to Sudhir and Avanti Jadhav. His father is a retired Mumbai Police officer.

Pakistan stated that Jadhav entered Chabahar with a visa stamped on a fake passport numbered L9630722 in 2003 where he got a new identity of Hussain Mubarak Patel – born in 30 August 1968, from Maharashtra, India.  Pakistani officials claimed that his job was to destabilise Pakistan by strengthening a separatist movement in Balochistan and Karachi – a mission which officially began in 2013.