On August 28, an intensive research was conducted in almost 16 locations including Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Telangana, UP, Bihar and Haryana in relation to Pakistan led Visakhapatnam espionage case. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) seized several sensitive documents related to classified defense information, while searching seven states in India. As per NIA, a total of 22 mobiles phones were seized by the raiding team.
The Visakhapatnam Pakistan ISI espionage case was started in 2021, it is about the leakage of classified defense-related information through Pakistani ISI spying network. The case was initially filed by Andhra Pradesh’s Counter Intelligence Cell on 12 January 2021. It was registered under the sections 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 121A (conspiring to commit certain offences against state) of Indian Penal Code, sections 17 and 18 of the Unlawful Activities (prevention) Act of 1967, and section 3 of Official Secrets Act, 1923.
In June 2023, the first chargesheet was filed by NIA over this investigation, two individuals identified as Meer Balaj Khan, an absconding Pakistani, and Akash Solanki were accused and later their involvement was found in espionage racket in the investigation.
In November 2023, a supplementary chargesheet was made against two accused, identified as Manmohan Surendra Panda and Alven. Panda was arrested whereas Alven allegedly absconded.
The recent development on this case occurred in May this year, and the NIA filed a second supplementary chargesheet against Amaan Salim Shaik. The accused from Mumbai. Shaik was found guilty of conspiring with Pakistani Intelligence Operatives. NIA seized two mobile phones from the location where they made his arrest. Two more mobile phones and several sensitive documents were seized from other locations during the raid.
Earlier, a former Indian Army personnel from Uttar Pradesh was convicted and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment by the NIA Special Court. In this case, the person was identified as Saurabh Sharma and sentenced to five years imprisonment. Along with him, another accused named Anas Yakub Giteli from Gujarat was also arrested.
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