Singh told PTI on telephone that the media had distorted his statement made at a press conference in Chandigarh on his working for the Government in seventies.

At the Meet-the-Press programme in Chandigarh yesterday, he had admitted to having worked as a spy and also blamed Government agencies for not having looked after his family after his arrest in Pakistan.

But today he said his statement was distorted. Singh declined to give any details of his working for the Government.

"I did not give the statement of my being a spy," he said.

Answering a question he declined that he was retracting yesterday's statement under pressure. "There was no pressure on me to withdraw the statement," he added.

His childhood friend Gurmit Chand Bhardwaj, a former Joint Director of News in AIR, told PTI in Chandigarh that Singh maintains that he worked for the government.

Bhardwaj also said that Pakistan Human Rights Minister Ansar Burney, who had played a key role in the release of Singh, also rang up and talked to Singh today seeking clarifications on his spy statement.