The country's National Investigation Agency has arrested 3 people from Karnataka and Kerala. The NIA suspects that these three accused are involved in the Visakhapatnam espionage case linked to Pak ISI. The NIA took this action on Tuesday with the help of local police. The NIA suspects that these three were in contact with Pakistan Intelligence Operatives and were sharing sensitive information related to the country with them.

Where was the arrest made?

According to the information received, the NIA along with the police team on Tuesday arrested Vethan Laxman Tandel and Akshay Ravi Naik from Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka. At the same time, Abhilash P.A. was arrested from Kochi, Kerala. So far, the NIA has made a total of 8 arrests in this case including these people. The three arrested accused persons were in contact with Pakistan Intelligence Operatives (PIO) through social media.

Were sending sensitive information to Pakistan

According to the NIA investigation, they were sharing sensitive information about Indian defense establishments at Karwar Naval Base and Kochi Naval Base and were receiving money from PIOs in exchange for the information. The NIA has so far filed a chargesheet against 5 people, including two absconding Pakistani operatives. The case was originally registered by the Andhra Pradesh Counter Intelligence Cell in January 2021 under sections 120B and 121A of the IPC, sections 17 and 18 of the UA(P) Act and section 3 of the Official Secrets Act.

This was revealed in the investigation

The NIA investigation has revealed that Pakistani national Mir Balaaz Khan, along with arrested accused Akash Solanki, was involved in an espionage racket related to the leak of sensitive critical information related to the Indian Navy as part of an anti-India conspiracy. Apart from Mir Balaj and Solanki, the NIA has filed a chargesheet against another absconding PIO in the case, identified as Alwane. The NIA, which began investigating the case in June 2023, had arrested Manmohan Surendra Panda and Aman Salim Sheikh in June 2023.