A Kanpur court has convicted and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment an alleged Pakistani spy eight years after he was arrested in Uttar Pradesh on charges of passing on information about military installations in India.
The UP Anti-Terror Squad arrested Waqas Mahmood on May 27,2009 on charges of being an ISI agent. The ATS had said that Waqas, who was arrested from Bithoor in Kanpur district, hailed from Lahore.
The Additional Sessions Judge court in Kanpur on Friday also sentenced to six years and 10 months imprisonment Sitara Begum, the Indian woman who allegedly sheltered Waqas, the UP ATS said.
Police claimed that Waqas was living in Kanpur under a fake identity and was collecting and passing on confidential information about Indian military installations to the Inter-Services Intelligence of Pakistan.
The ATS had claimed that it had recovered confidential documents from Waqas, including restricted maps of the Air Force in Chakeri, fake driving licence and voter identity card, and mobile phones.
Waqas was alledgedly living on rent under the alias of Ibrahim Khan at Sitara Begum's house in Kanpur’s Kalyanpur area.
The previous Akhilesh Yadav government had in 2013 made directions to withdraw cases against 19 terror accused persons, including Sitara Begum. The move was, however, stayed by the Allahabad High Court.
ATS IG Aseem Arun said the officers involved in the operation would be rewarded.
