DRDO Espionage Case: Arrested Staff Received Money From Foreign Countries, CB Tells Orissa HC; Check Details

Cuttack: The five employees of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)’s Integrated Test Range (ITR) in Chandipur, arrested in an espionage case, received money in their bank accounts from foreign countries, the Odisha Crime Branch has told the Orissa High Court.

The Crime Branch submitted a status report in the High Court on Tuesday on the probe into the espionage case.

According to the status report, the arrested employees were in touch with several foreign women on various social media platforms, including Facebook and WhatsApp.

The locations of the women are, however, yet to be established.

The arrested employees were receiving money in their bank accounts from foreign countries, the report said.

Earlier, the police had found the involvement of a woman operative, suspected to be a Pakistani.

The HC had last month asked the Centre and the state government to file affidavits on the current status of the investigation into the alleged leaking of classified defence secrets.

The Centre has not yet submitted its report, for which the court has fixed February 3, 2022 as the next date of hearing.

The court’s direction came in response to a petition filed by an advocate seeking a probe by the CBI or the NIA into the case.