Police fail to identify ‘source’ of information in espionage case

In the chargesheet submitted by the Delhi police special cell in the arrest of freelance journalist Rajeev Sharma, the police have failed to identify the “source” of classified information that was allegedly passed to a Chinese handler.

Mr. Sharma was passing information about the Dalai Lama’s movement to a Chinese intelligence official through the Telegram app.

On September 14, Mr. Sharma was arrested in an espionage case under the Official Secrets Act for allegedly leaking sensitive information to Chinese intelligence. On December 4, he was granted bail by the High Court on the ground that the police had failed to file the chargesheet within the stipulated 60-day period.

“Sincere efforts have been made to trace the source of accused Rajeev Sharma, who used to supply the documents to him, but the same could not be traced yet,” the police said in the chargesheet.

In the chargesheet framed against Mr. Sharma, the police said the confidential documents recovered in his house were moved for verification to the Director-General of Military Intelligence.

As per the report, the documents were classified as “confidential”, and the accused had unauthorised possession of it.