Bathinda: Two persons have been arrested for allegedly installing an advanced solar-powered CCTV camera at Bathinda in Punjab that directly transmitted footage of military movement to anti-national elements in Pakistan and Canada.
Bathinda, about 115 km from the Indo-Pakistan border, is home to the Army’s X (10) Corps and also has a strategic air force base.
The arrest of the two from the Amritsar district has triggered a major counter-intelligence investigation.
Both the Corps headquarters and the air base are located barely a few km from the site where the CCTV camera was detected by chance.
Authorities said that the camera, fitted with a SIM card, was set-up on an electricity pole near a cement factory on the Bathinda-Sriganganagar Road and had reportedly been functional for the past three-odd months.
Sriganganagar in Rajasthan is bang on the border with Pakistan and is about 125 km from Bathinda. Sources revealed that there is co
nsiderable movement of troops and equipment along the road.
During the investigation, the police learned that the camera feed of the movement of police and security forces was being sent to anti-national elements in Pakistan and Canada, Narinder Singh, SP (City), Bathinda, said, as reported by The Tribune.
“Our teams analysed CCTV footage, technical evidence and human intelligence inputs to identify the suspects and arrested two persons, Ashok Singh (40), a cook, and Akashdeep Singh (22), who is unemployed. Both are residents of Sarai village in Amritsar district,” he added.
The camera was detected by personnel of the Thermal police station recently when a team was investigating a road accident. A case has been registered at the Thermal police station under the Official Secrets Act and the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.
Joint teams of the Bathinda police, CIA staff and Counter Intelligence units have launched an investigation, officials said.
This was the first such case in Bathinda, the SP said, adding that it is serious in nature.
“Efforts are underway to apprehend the remaining accused through continuous raids. We cannot reveal their identities,” he said, adding that Ashok had provided logistical support, technical data and the SIM card, while Akashdeep, along with an accomplice, had installed the camera at the site.
“Those arrested had visited some other places as well. We are verifying whether more cameras were installed by them. In the past, we conducted search operations around the military area and nothing suspicious was found,” Singh said.