NIA files charge-sheet against two including a Pakistan national in an espionage case related to Indian Navy in Vizag

Published - July 20, 2023 03:43 am IST - Visakhapatnam

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday filed a charge sheet against two accused persons, including a suspected Pakistani national, in an espionage case relating to the Indian Navy here.

The two charge-sheeted have been identified as arrested accused Akash Solanki and absconding Pakistani operative Meer Balaj Khan. Along with other Pakistan Intelligence agents, they were involved in the espionage racket in which sensitive information pertaining to the Indian Navy was allegedly being leaked as part of an anti-India conspiracy.

Akash Solanki (21) is resident of Firozabad district in Uttar Pradesh. Both were charge-sheeted on Wednesday under relevant Sections of IPC and UA (P) Act in the NIA Special Court, Vijayawada. Further investigations are continuing.

The case had been registered initially at PS Counter Intelligence Cell, Vijayawada, and was subsequently re-registered by NIA on June 5.

Akash Solanki, who was working as an Electrical Artificer Radio Apprentice (EAC) at the Naval Dockyard, Vishakhapatnam, was reportedly passing on classified information relating to the Indian Navy warships and submarines. He was sharing the information with a suspected Pakistani intelligence operative, operating under the assumed identity of ‘Aditi Chouhan’, as well as other unidentified individuals.

NIA investigations had further revealed that Akash Solanki had been receiving monetary compensation from another suspected Pakistani operative Meer Balaj Khan through crypto channels in exchange for the information. Meer Balaj Khan’s credentials obtained from Binance (leading Crypto-currency Exchange) disclosed a Pakistan ID card during investigations.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.