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Gujarat man arrested for sharing Coast Guard vessel movements with Pak spy: ATS
Gujarat ATS arrested Dipesh Gohil for sharing sensitive Coast Guard info with a Pakistani agent via Facebook for money, totaling ₹42,000.
Gujarat’s Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) has arrested a boat repairman on charges of passing sensitive military information regarding the movement of Indian Coast Guard (ICG) ships to a Pakistani agent who befriended him on Facebook, officials said on Friday.
The suspect was identified by the police as Dipesh Gohil, a resident of Arambhada village in Okha Mandal taluka of Dev Bhoomi Dwarka district. He had been repairing boats at Okha Jetty for the last three years.
According to ATS officials, Gohil allegedly came in contact with a person on Facebook who identified herself as Sahima’ about seven months ago. Officials said they also communicated on WhatsApp.
When the Pakistani agent learnt that Gohil engaged in welding and electrical repair work at shops near the port area, the person offered to pay him ₹200 per day for information about the names and number of coast guard ships arriving at the jetty and their movement.
Gohil did not have a bank account and shared the account details of three friends. A total of ₹42,000 was transferred through UPI to these accounts over seven months by the woman, who had told him that she worked with the Pakistani Navy.
“Gohel was aware of what kind of information he was sharing and with whom. He knew this was illegal. Based on our initial investigation, it seems he did it for money. He routinely gave information about the coastguard ships and where they were stationed,” Virjit Parmar, deputy superintendent of police, Gujarat ATS said.
He has been arrested on charges of criminal conspiracy and waging war against the government under sections 61 and 147 respectively of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
Okha is located at the westernmost tip of the Devbhoomi Dwarka district in Gujarat. The port town is about 30km from the famous temple town of Dwarka and serves as the gateway to Beyt Dwarka island. Okha port handles significant marine traffic and fishing activities and is an important military location due to its proximity to the Pakistani coastline and the presence of an Indian Navy base.
Parmar said the incident bears similarities to a previous case where a man was caught in Porbandar last month on espionage charges but there is no link between the two cases. In that case, the ATS caught Pankaj Kotiya, a labourer at a Porbandar tobacco factory for allegedly sharing sensitive details about the movement of Coast Guard vessels with a person suspected to be working for Pakistani intelligence on Facebook.
