New Delhi, March 16
The Ghaziabad Police which arrested six people in connection with an espionage case has learnt that the racket was being managed by operatives from Pakistan. The police learnt that the accused people focussed largely on targets in Mumbai and the National Capital Region.
The police arrested six people and during their questioning they revealed that they were being paid by Pakistanis to dig out sensitive information and share it.
The payments were assignment-based and would range from Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000.
The instructions to get information on sensitive sites were given to the accused by a Pakistani handler through WhatsApp. The police traced the WhatsApp number to Pakistan.
The accused said that they filmed sensitive locations in Mumbai and NCR. These included RPF and GRP deployment points and offices of security agencies.
They also filmed railway stations, the police learnt. It was also revealed that the accused persons had installed a hidden camera at the Delhi Cantt Railway Station several months back. This gave the Pakistani handlers live footage of the railway station and the surrounding areas.
After it was learnt that the accused had also passed on sensitive information about railway infrastructure, Defence areas and government offices, an alert has been sounded.
The arrested persons are Raj Valmiki (19) from Auraiya, Siva Valmiki (20) from Badaun, Ritik Gangwar (23) from Shahjahanpur, Suhai Malik (23) from Bijnor and Sane Iram (25) alias Mehak from Kaushambi.
Eight mobile phones used to film sensitive areas and pass on the information to Pakistan were seized from the accused.
They have been booked under the Sections 152 and 61(2) of the BNS and Sections 3 and 5 of the Official Secrets Act.
Further, the police learnt that multiple photos had been shared. Calls records to the Pakistani handler are currently being scrutinised.
Some of the data has been deleted and the police is in the process of retrieving it.
Officials part of the probe say that these people were also told to recruit more persons. The idea was to spread this espionage network and gather more information.
Another official said that the worrisome part about this network and plot is the installation of a camera at the Delhi Cantt Railway Station as this gives live images of such sensitive locations. The same can be used to carry out real time surveillance, which in turn could be used to plan terror attacks.
Railway stations and India's trains have for long been on the radar of the Pakistanis, another official said.
This development comes just days after six people from Masuri were charged under the provisions of the UAPA for following banned terror groups and sharing propaganda content on WhatsApp.
Since 'Operation Sindoor', the agencies are noting a pattern in which the Pakistanis have increased espionage activities in India.
The ISI had even got in touch with influencers and used them to gather information about India.
Influencer Jyoti Malhotra was also tasked with posting content on her YouTube channel that showed Pakistan in good light.
An Intelligence Bureau official says that such activity would continue to rise and the agencies must be on the lookout.
Nationwide crackdowns have been conducted by the National Investigation Agency and state police, which have led to several networks being busted.
- IANS
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