The National Investigation Agency (NIA) probing the 2021 Visakhapatnam espionage case took into custody two contract workers at Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) on Wednesday.
Reportedly, of the two persons taken into custody, one is from Kadamakudy in Ernakulam and the other from Kilimanoor in Thiruvananthapuram. The move was following an inspection carried out on the CSL premises by an NIA team from Hyderabad in coordination with their Kochi counterparts.
NIA sources confirmed that the inspection was indeed related to the Visakhapatnam case. Devices belonging to the suspects were also reportedly seized. CSL sources claimed to have no clue about the identity of the persons taken into custody.
Reportedly, they were examined on account of their suspected links with an Assam native who helped Deepak, the one who had been arrested in connection with the case, take a SIM card. They were interrogated at the NIA office in Kalamassery and may be taken to Hyderabad.
The case came to light in 2021, when the Counter Intelligence Cell, Andhra Pradesh, registered the case as FIR 01/2021 dated January 12, 2021, under Sections 120 B & 121A of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 17 & 18 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 and Section 3 of Official Secrets Act, 1923. The case involves the leakage of classified defence information through a Pakistani ISI spying network. The NIA took over the case in June 2023.
