NIA arrests three more in ISI-linked Vizag espionage case

Arrests made in Karnataka and Kerala; all three accused found to have been in contact with Pakistan Intelligence Operatives via social media

Visakhapatnam: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested three more accused in the Pakistani ISI-linked Visakhapatnam espionage case involving sensitive and classified Naval defence information.

The NIA said on Wednesday the arrests were made in Karnataka and Kerala with the assistance of local police. While Vethan Laxman Tandel and Akshay Ravi Naik were picked up from Uttara Kannada district in Karnataka, Abhilash P. A was arrested from Kochi on Tuesday. With these, the total arrests in the case have gone up to eight.

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All three accused arrested were found to have been in contact with Pakistan Intelligence Operatives (PIOs) through social media.

They were sharing sensitive information about Indian defence establishments at Karwar Naval Base and Kochi Naval Base and receiving money from PIOs in exchange for the information, as per NIA investigations. The NIA has so far charge-sheeted five persons, including two absconding Pakistani operatives, in the case that was originally registered by the Counter Intelligence Cell, Andhra Pradesh, in January 2021 under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 121 (A) (conspiring to commit certain offences against the state), and sections 17 and 18 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act that deal with punishment for raising funds for terrorist acts and conspiracy respectively.

The Counter Intelligence Cell, which registered the case on January 12, 2021, also invoked section 3 of the Official Secrets Act that defines punishment for spying. The NIA investigations have revealed that Pakistani national Meer Balaj Khan, along with an arrested accused Akash Solanki, was involved in the espionage racket relating to the leakage of sensitive vital information about the Navy, as part of an anti-India conspiracy.

Besides Meer Balaj and Solanki, NIA has chargesheeted another absconding PIO, identified as Alven, Manmohan Surendra Panda and Amaan Salim Shaikh in the case. In June 2023, the NIA took over the case after Andhra Pradesh police suspected involvement of foreign intelligence operatives.

The anti-terror agency is continuing to probe the case to unravel the complete espionage conspiracy by Pak-based and other anti-national elements. In August last year, the NIA raided 16 locations in seven states as part of its probe. The raids were conducted on premises linked to the accused suspected to have received funds from the ISI and its operatives in exchange for sensitive and confidential information related to the Indian Navy. Akash Solanki from Uttar Pradesh’s Firozabad was working at the naval dockyard in Visakhapatnam.

Manmohan Surendra Panda and Aman Shaikh had allegedly facilitated the honey trapping of officials working at the dockyard to elicit information through escorts planted by the ISI.