The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested freelance journalist Rajeev Sharma in connection with a money laundering probe linked to the alleged leakage of sensitive information to Chinese intelligence officers, the agency said in a statement on Saturday.
Sharma was taken into ED custody on July 1 under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). He was produced before a local court in Delhi on Friday, which granted the ED seven days’ custody, the agency said in a statement.
The agency said its probe has revealed that 62-year-old Sharma “leaked confidential and sensitive information to Chinese intelligence officers, in exchange for remuneration, thereby compromising the security and national interests of India”.
“It was further revealed that cash for remuneration of Sharma and other unknown persons was being generated through a ‘hawala’ by Mahipalpur-based (an area in Delhi) shell companies that were run by Chinese nationals... along with a Nepalese national,” it alleged.