A Jaipur resident who is languishing in a Pakistan jail for 36 years is likely to be released next week, according to the local MP here.

Union minister of state for external affairs minister VK Singh told a delegation led by Jaipur MP Ramcharan Bohra in New Delhi today that Gajanand will be set free on the eve of Pakistan's Independence Day.

The minister has assured us that Gajanand would be released from the jail in Lahore on August 13, Bohra said.

He said the man, now 68, was sentenced to two months in prison but languished there because he did not have consular access over the years.

Jaipur (Rural) police were told in May that Gajanand is in Lahore's Kot Lakhpat jail. The police received a request for the verification of his nationality.

This raised the hopes of Gajanand's wife Makhni Devi and two sons Rakesh and Mukesh about seeing him again.

The MP said that it was not clear how Gajanand reached Pakistan.