NEW DELHI: Pakistani diplomat Ameer Zubair Siddique, who was chargesheeted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for a criminal conspiracy to commit a terrorist act in India, had got reconnaissance of various defence installations done.
These included a naval base in Mumbai, an Air Force station in Chennai, and harbours and coastal areas in Southern India.
Siddique, who served in the Pakistan High Commission in Colombo, also visited Chennai, Trichy and Thiruvananthapuram to meet four other accused.
He, along with another man, also visited a retired Army officer in Chennai and collected sensitive information secretly, without the officer’s knowledge.
Siddique, nicknamed “boss”, and the four others were chargesheeted by the NIA last month for engaging in a criminal conspiracy to commit a terrorist act and wage war against India by causing damage and destruction of property in the country.
This is the first time any Indian agency has put a Pakistan diplomat on its wanted list.
According to the 43-page charge sheet, accessed by The New Indian Express, for six years Siddique and the others hatched a criminal conspiracy to commit a terrorist act in India.
“During the period from 2008 to 2014, four accused and Siddique hatched a criminal conspiracy to commit a terrorist act,” the NIA charge sheet says.
“They collected sensitive defence-related information prejudicial to the safety and interest of the state and shared this information and communicated to foreign agent through e-mail, mobile phone and also meeting them in person,” it says. One of the accused, identified as Thameem Ansari of Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, was arrested by NIA in 2012.