NEW DELHI, Oct 4: A 21-year-old person from Bihar now living near Nashik in Maharashtra has been arrested for allegedly spying for Pakistan and sending classified defence information to the neighbouring country.
The police said Sanjeev Kumar was caught by some soldiers on Friday while he was clicking pictures on his mobile phone of the Military Hospital area in Deolali Camp, where photography or video shooting is not allowed.
The soldiers seized his mobile phone and during an inquiry found that he had allegedly sent the photographs to a WhatsApp group in Pakistan, the official said.
Deolali in Nashik district houses defence establishments like the School of Artillery, Artillery Centre and the Combat Army Aviation Training School.
The accused, originally hailing from Gopalganj district in Bihar, lived in a settlement near the Deolali Camp railway station and worked as a labourer at a construction site in the military area, the police said.
He was handed over to Deolali Camp police on Saturday evening. Based on a police complaint by an Army officer, the man was arrested and a case was registered against him under provisions of the Official Secrets Act, the police said.
The report has alarmed the security forces because of some intelligence information earlier that some Pakistan-based terror groups could be plotting to launch another Uri-type attack on the Indian defence establishment and the country’s economic capital—Mumbai.
Meanwhile, two Navy personnel were killed as a glider on routine flight crashed near Kochi in Kerala on Sunday morning, a Defence spokesperson said.
He said the naval power glider was on a routine training sortie and took off from INS Garuda. It crashed near Thoppumpady bridge close to the naval base at around 7 am. The defence personnel managed to rescue Lt Rajeev Jha and Petty officer Sunil Kumar, who were in the glider, from the crash site but died on way to the hospital, the spokesman said.
(Manas Dasgupta)