Cops seek 7-day custody of armyman in spying case

Police on Thursday sought from court 7-day custody of the Naib Subedar, who has been arrested on espionage charges and said that he was paid Rs 74,000 and offered a trip to London by his woman friend, believed to be a Pakistani national.

Police on Thursday sought from court 7-day custody of the Naib Subedar, who has been arrested on espionage charges and said that he was paid Rs 74,000 and offered a trip to London by his woman friend, believed to be a Pakistani national.

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Naib Subedar Patan Kumar Poddar, posted at EME Unit at Secunderabad, allegedly gave the woman - who had befriended him on social media - classified information about deployment of Army units, location of Artillery regiments, etc.

Poddar (41), belonging to Malda of West Bengal, had joined Army as a clerk in August 1996.

The police's remand report said that he came in contact with a woman, who identified herself as Anuskha Agarwal, on Facebook in 2013.

Poddar confessed Anushka told him that she lived in Jhansi, her father was a retired Wing Commander from Air Force and is running an NGO of United Nations.

Initially she asked him to work for the NGO through online surveys, and later started seeking classified military information, including photographs of missile unit and storage unit, their movement, etc.

Meanwhile, a senior officer supervising the probe said police were going seek details of accounts of Poddar and the woman from Facebook.

Police have sought a seven-day custody of Poddar. The matter is likely to come up for arguments on Friday. Poddar is presently under judicial custody.