Kulbhushan Jadhav has been tortured and murdered in Pakistan, fears BJP MP RK Singh

Delhi: Even as India on Tuesday warned Pakistan to consider the "consequences" on their ties if Kulbhushan Jadhav is hanged in the alleged espionage case, BJP MP and former home secretary RK Singh said that it was quite possible that the Indian national is already dead.

"Suspect it's a story. No military trial conducted, he has been tortured and murdered. If not then Pakistan must give us consular access," Singh said, as per ANI.

At the same time, the BJP MP also underscored the need for adopting a policy of "strict reciprocity" with Pakistan.

Singh said that a number of Pakistanis are arrested every month while carrying out terror activities in the country and if India started behaving the same way, all of them will hang.

"International relations are carried out on the basis of reciprocity. And strict reciprocity, in my view, is the best course to adopt. In this (Jadhav) case also, we need to adopt the course of strict reciprocity," Singh said, as per PTI.

He said Pakistan needs to understand that India arrests a number of Pakistanis every month with weapons.

"Pakistanis will come across to the valley to carry out terrorist attacks with Ak-47s, grenade launchers etc. They are put on trial, they are put on 10-12 years and then they go back. If this (Jadhav) sort of thing happens and we (India) start behaving the same way, all of them will hang. We will set up a special court, we will change the law. Pakistan needs to keep this in mind," he said.

Meanwhile, India today vowed to go "out of the way" to save Jadhav.

The death sentence awarded to Jadhav by a Pakistani military court after declaring him a "spy" echoed in both Houses of Parliament where all parties came together to condemn the "indefensible" verdict and pressed the government to take every step to help him.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj made a statement in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, asserting that India will go "out of the way" to ensure justice to Jadhav who is an "innocent kidnapped Indian".

Jadhav's execution will be taken by India as a "pre-meditated murder" and Pakistan should "consider its consequences" on bilateral relations, if it proceeds on this matter, Swaraj warned.

She said the charges against Jadhav, who was doing business in Iran and was kidnapped and taken to Pakistan, are "concocted" and the trial against him was "farcical", leading to an "indefensible verdict".

"Let me state clearly that the government and the people of India would view very seriously the possibility that an innocent Indian citizen is facing death sentence in Pakistan without due process and in violation of basic norms of law, justice and international relations," she said.

"There is no evidence of wrongdoing by Jadhav. If anything, he is the victim of a plan that seeks to cast aspersions on India to deflect international attention from Pakistan's well-known record of sponsoring and supporting terrorism."

Questioning the trial, she said Pakistan had sought India's assistance to obtain evidence for its investigation and levelled ridiculous charges against senior Indian officials who had no connection to this issue.

Thereafter, Pakistan linked providing consular access to India's acceptance of its position and Indian response was constructive in the hope that some forward movement could be made, Swaraj said.

"We pointed out that consular access to Shri Jadhav would be an essential pre-requisite in order to verify the facts and understand the circumstances of his presence in Pakistan.

"Given this exchange, it is extraordinary that yesterday, a decision is suddenly announced awarding a death sentence in this case when previous exchanges with India itself underlines the insufficiency of evidence" she said.

(With Agency inputs)