ATS arrests 23-year-old for sharing info with Pak spy

Mumbai: The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Wednesday arrested a 23-year-old man who was allegedly in touch with Pakistan-based intelligence operatives and was passing on confidential details of the Indian government to a Pakistani agency through social media platforms

Mumbai: The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Wednesday arrested a 23-year-old man who was allegedly in touch with Pakistan-based intelligence operatives and was passing on confidential details of the Indian government to a Pakistani agency through social media platforms.

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The accused, identified as Gaurav Patil, 23, was a native of Jalgaon who underwent civil apprenticeship at a defence establishment in Mumbai. During preliminary investigation, it was found that he was in touch with two Pakistani nationals who worked as intelligence operatives. He was also in touch with a person based in West Bengal who paid him for sharing information regarding ship names, pictures and location. The information was subsequently relayed to a Pakistani agency, and Patil had been receiving money, in lieu of these transactions for the past six months.

The ATS leant about his activities few days ago and put him under surveillance. Once the transaction was completed, he was taken into custody, said sources.

Earlier this year, in May, the ATS arrested one Pradeep Kurulkar in a similar case. Kurulkar was a senior scientist at the Defence Research and Development Organisation who allegedly passed on confidential information about Indian missile systems and defence projects to a person known as ‘Zara Dasgupta’. Dasgupta claimed to be a software engineer based in the UK who befriended him by sending obscene messages and videos, but the ATS traced her IP address to Pakistan. The agency had filed an 1800-page chargesheet against Kurulkar and he is currently in judicial custody.