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Espionage case: NIA files charge sheet against two including Firozabad youth
The arrested accused was passing on classified information related to Indian Navy warships and submarines to Pakistani agents, say officials
LUCKNOW An arrested youth from UP’s Firozabad, Akash Solanki, 21, who was working as an electrical artificer radio apprentice (EAC) at the Naval dockyard in Visakhapatnam, was on Wednesday charge sheeted along with a suspected absconding Pakistani national by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Andhra Pradesh in a case of espionage.
The arrested accused Solanki was passing on classified information related to Indian Navy warships and submarines to Pakistani agents. He was sharing the information with a suspected Pakistani intelligence operative functioning under the assumed identity of ‘Aditi Chouhan’, as well as other unidentified individuals, confirmed NIA officials.
An official said the investigations further revealed that Solanki had been receiving monetary compensation from another suspected Pakistani operative, Meer Balaj Khan, through crypto channels in exchange for the information.
Khan’s credentials obtained from Binance (leading Crypto-currency Exchange) disclosed a Pakistan ID card. Solanki and Khan were charge-sheeted under relevant sections of the IPC and Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) in the NIA Special Court, Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, he said.
The duo, along with other Pakistan Intelligence agents, was involved in leaking sensitive information pertaining to the Indian Navy. Initially, the case had been registered at the Counter-Intelligence Cell of Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, and was subsequently re-registered by the NIA on June 5, 2023. Further investigations in the case were still on.
