New Delhi, Two more accused have been sentenced to over five years in jail for their involvement in the Pakistan-linked Visakhapatnam Navy espionage case, the National Investigation Agency said on Friday.
The NIA special court at Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, has sentenced Kalavalapalli Konda Babu of Visakhapatnam district and Aviansh Somal of Kangra district to five years and 10 months of simple imprisonment, it said in a statement.
The court has also imposed a fine of ₹5,000 each, and in the event of default of payment, the accused persons will have to undergo an additional one-year simple imprisonment, said the statement issued by the probe agency.
With this, a total of six accused persons have been convicted and sentenced in the case so far, relating to spying at vital installations and Indian Navy establishments by foreign spies/agents with the intent to threaten its unity, integrity, security and sovereignty, it said.
The two accused persons, now convicted and sentenced, were arrested in December 2019 from Mumbai and Karwar respectively in the case.
NIA investigations revealed that they were in touch with foreign intelligence agencies through WhatsApp, and were involved in the sharing of sensitive and classified information related to Indian Defence establishments, deployments, etc., the statement said.
{{/usCountry}}NIA investigations revealed that they were in touch with foreign intelligence agencies through WhatsApp, and were involved in the sharing of sensitive and classified information related to Indian Defence establishments, deployments, etc., the statement said.
{{/usCountry}}As per investigations, both men had come in contact with Pakistan intelligence agents through Facebook initially.
They had received monetary benefits in lieu of secret and classified information from Pak agents through accused Abdul Rehman, Haroon Lakdawala, Shaista Qaiser and Imran Giteli, who were convicted in the case earlier this year, the NIA said.
These four accused were found to have deposited various amounts into the accounts of accused persons on the directions of Pak intelligence agents as part of the espionage conspiracy, it said.
NIA, which took over the investigation from the counter-intelligence police station, the intelligence department, Vijayawada in December 2019, had arrested a total of 15 accused persons over the years.
In June 2020, the agency had chargesheeted 14 accused persons, followed by a supplementary charge sheet against one more accused person in March 2021.
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