A special NIA court on Tuesday sentenced two more accused in the Pakistan-linked navy espionage case in Visakhapatnam to simple imprisonment along with a fine.
Ashok Kumar of Jhunjhunu and Vikas Kumar of Alwar in Rajasthan were sentenced to 5 years and 11 months under Section 18 of UAPA and Section 3 of the Official Secrets Act. The court also imposed a fine of ₹5,000 each.
With this, the NIA has secured the conviction of eight of the 15 accused arrested in the case to date. Ashok and Vikas were arrested in December 2019 in Mumbai and Karwar in Karnataka, respectively. The NIA had in June 2020 chargesheeted 14 accused persons and subsequently filed a supplementary chargesheet against one more accused in March 2021.
The case relates to espionage at vital installations and navy establishments by foreign spies and agents on orders from Pakistan intelligence agents with the intent to threaten India’s unity, integrity, security and sovereignty.
Sources said Ashok and Vikas had come in contact with the operatives through Facebook and received money for information.
The transactions were allegedly routed through intermediaries who were convicted earlier this year. They had allegedly received monetary benefits in lieu of classified information from Pakistani agents through accused Abdul Rehman, Haroon Lakdawala, Shaista Qaiser and Imran Giteli, all convicted earlier
this year.
