India, Oct. 15 -- Ashley Tellis, an India-born US advisor on foreign policy, has been arrested after being charged with illegally retaining classified national defence documents and allegedly meeting with Chinese officials on several occasions.

Tellis, who has served as an adviser to the State Department since 2001, was charged in a Virginia district court on October 13, HT reported earlier.

He was charged with violating federal law that dictates the retention of national defence information. The 64-year-old, born in India and now a naturalised US citizen, is considered one of America's most prominent experts on India. He played a significant role in the India-US civil nuclear deal talks in the mid-2000s.

Over 1,000 pages of documents ...