NIA arrests three more involved in ISI-linked Vizag espionage case

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) with the assistance of local police on Tuesday arrested three more accused persons in the Pakistani ISI-linked Visakhapatnam espionage case involving sensitive and classified naval defence information.

While Vethan Laxman Tandel and Akshay Ravi Naik were picked up from Uttara Kannada district in Karnataka, Abhilash P.A. was arrested from Kochi in Kerala. With these, the total arrests in the case have gone up to eight.

All the three accused were found to have been in contact with Pakistan Intelligence Operatives (PIOs) through social media, an NIA release said, alleging further that they were sharing sensitive information about Indian defence establishments at Karwar Naval Base and Kochi Naval Base, and were receiving money from PIOs in exchange of the information.

NIA has so far chargesheeted 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 and 121 A of IPC, Sections 17 and 18 of UA(P) Act and Section 3 of the Official Secrets Act.

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 on the Indian 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, which it took over in June 2023, the release added.