Cops trace 4 Facebook accounts of woman handler in DRDO espionage case to Pak

Odisha Police said the suspected Pakistani agent had 7 Facebook accounts and was in contact with the five accused.

Updated on: Oct 7, 2021, 02:03:03 IST

By Debabrata Mohanty, Hindustan Times, NEW DELHI

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BHUBANESWAR: Four of the seven Facebook accounts used by a suspected woman handler in the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) espionage case were being operated from Pakistan, a senior official of Odisha criminal investigation department (CID) said on Wednesday.

The Odisha police is yet to put a name to the woman, suspected to be the handler in the DRDO espionage case, but have her photographs on her Facebook pages,  (REUTERS/Representative image)

The woman, who was in touch with the five men arrested last month through social media accounts such as Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, had at least four Facebook accounts operating from Pakistan. Three accounts were being operated from Islamabad and one from Rawalpindi, said CID additional director general Sanjeeb Panda.

The officer said investigators had been able to trace back the accounts to Pakistan, adding that she used proxy IPs (Internet Protocol) of the US, India and Germany. Some of the accounts are currently active and she is still chatting with some people, he added.

The suspected Pakistani agent had 7 Facebook accounts under different names and was in contact with the five accused . She even had proposed to two accused. The woman had been using a UK phone number and chatted with the accused to get "valuable information" on missiles test-fired at DRDO’s testing range facility in Chandipur area of Balasore district.

Last month, five people, Basanta Behera, Hemanta Kumar Mistry, Tapas Ranjan Nayak, SK Musafir and Sachin Kumar, were arrested by police in Balasore district.

Panda said investigation is underway to get details of the UK phone number and the bank account in Dubai, from where one of the accused received a cash transfer of around ₹38,000. He said efforts are underway to know if the accused received more money from any other source.

The CID has sought technical data from the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team under the Union ministry of electronics and information technology.

The CID is yet to identify the woman but has found her videos and photographs.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Debabrata Mohanty
Debabrata Mohanty is a senior assistant editor of Hindustan Times who works as state correspondent from Odisha covering the state's politics, governance, public policy, natural disasters, environment and its society for close to three decades. With his long years of reporting from the state capital of Bhubaneswar, Mohanty has been known as one of the most experienced and credible journalists covering Odisha for the national English dailies. His reporting combines on-ground detail with deep institutional knowledge detailing the state's changing politics, governance issues, administrative reforms and the functioning of its public institutions. He has regularly reported on issues ranging from legislative developments and public policy implementation. Politics is his core areas of expertise as he closely tracks Odisha's political landscape, including the rise and transformation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the two principal political parties in Odisha. His long association with the state's political establishment enables him to write on contemporary developments in a larger political context. Mohanty takes a deep interest in writing human interest stories, environmental issues and documenting the impact of cyclones, floods, heatwaves, and other climate-related events in one of the most disaster-prone states. His coverage extends to public health, governance reforms and stories on accountability of government institutions. Before joining Hindustan Times, Mohanty worked with The Indian Express, Mail Today, and The Telegraph, where he covered at least six general elections and as many assembly elections. In 2007, he was selected for the prestigious Chevening Young Indian Print Journalist Programme at the University of Lincoln, United Kingdom, where he received advanced training in print journalism. In 2009 he won the Press Institute of India-International Committee of Red Cross award on conflict reporting for his on-ground reportage of 2008 Kandhamal riots.Read More

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