NIA carried out raids in 16 places across 7 states including Telangana and confiscated important documents in the Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) Espionage Case. On August 28, the agency searched 16 locations in Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Haryana in connection with leaked classified defense information through a Pakistani ISI espionage network.
NIA searches in numerous places in a major crackdown on the Visakhapatnam espionage case led by Pakistan. Searches carried out in connection with the leak of classified defense information through a Pakistani ISI espionage network. The NIA teams searched premises connected to suspects who had received funds from Pakistan for conducting espionage in India, as per the anti-terror agency.
According to the NIA, its team conducting the raid confiscated 22 mobile phones and numerous important documents while searching. The situation concerned a conspiracy originating from a neighbouring country to leak important and confidential information related to the Indian Navy. The NIA assumed control of the investigation in July 2023 after it was initially filed in January 2021 by the Counter Intelligence Cell of Andhra Pradesh Police.
NIA filed a charge-sheet on July 19, 2023, naming Meer Balaj Khan, a Pakistani national at large, and Akash Solanki as the accused. The inquiry uncovered that both individuals were engaged in the spy network.
Last year, on the 6th of November, the NIA submitted an additional charge-sheet against two more suspects, known as Manmohan Surendra Panda and Alven. Panda has been reportedly arrested while Alven, an alleged Pakistani intelligence operative is absconding.
Further, on May 2024, NIA filed a second supplementary charge-sheet against another accused, Aman Salim Shaikh, who was allegedly conspiring with Pakistani Intelligence Operatives.
Earlier, former Indian Army personnel from Uttar Pradesh had also been convicted and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment by the NIA Special Court in a Pakistan-operated espionage case. The person identified as Saurabh Sharma had been sentenced to five years of imprisonment, a statement by NIA said. Sharma had been arrested with another accused, Anas Yakub Giteli, a Gujarat resident.
