Four Detained On Charges Of Espionage From Chandipur ITR in Odisha

Balasore: A special squad of Balasore police have detained four persons from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur missile launch Pad III on espionage charges.

The accused were picked up on Tuesday on the suspicion that they were passing on crucial defence secrets to agents of a foreign country for monetary gains, causing a threat to the security and integrity of the country.

“We had credible intelligence that some persons are wrongfully and willfully communicating the classified defence secrets to foreign agents, appearing to be Pakistani agents, being contacted from various ISD phone numbers and in exchange, they were getting wrongful monetary benefits from them. On basis of these inputs, multiple police teams were formed to apprehend the culprits. In the course of raids by Balasore police, several incriminating materials are also recovered,” said IG, Eastern Range, Himanshu Lal.

He further said that they would take the assistance of the Crime Branch, which had earlier investigated a similar case.

Balasore SP Sudhanshu Mishra said that a case has been registered under Sections 120-B, 121-A and 34 of IPC R/W Section 3,4 and 5 of Official Secret Act.

“One of the accused, Basanta Behera, is suspected to be transmitting defence-related classified information to Pakistan or its agents for monetary gain,” he said, adding that more inputs about their activities will emerge after interrogation.

Earlier, Iswar Behera, a contractual photographer of Chandipur ITR, was arrested and convicted on charges of transmitting information relating to missile design and technology to the Inter-State Intelligence Agency of Pakistan.