KOCHI: The probe into the alleged spying by a former employee of Cochin Shipyard Ltd (CSL) has hit a dead end as the police are awaiting the response of Facebook-parent Meta Platforms regarding details about the FB profile to which the sensitive information was sent.
Manjeri native Sreenish Pookkodan, who was a contract technician with CSL, was arrested on December 20 for capturing images of an under-construction ship of the Navy, collecting details about VVIPs at the shipyard, and sharing the information with his FB friend who went by the name of Angel Payal. He was sent to two-day police custody last week.
A police official said, “The FB user told him that she was working in Dubai. They used to chat regularly. As their friendship grew, Sreenish began sharing sensitive information with her. Based on his interrogation, we think that even Sreenish does not know much about the girl.” The police are also yet to get any actionable information about Angel Payal. They have approached Meta, Facebook’s parent company, for details of the profile, but the latter has yet to respond.
“We are yet to receive any details from Meta. Sreenish mobile has been sent for forensic analysis. At present, we only have basic information about the girl, which Sreenish provided us,” said the officer.
Kochi City Police Commissioner A Akbar said the probe is in progress. He also said he was not aware of any central agency taking over the probe. “We are conducting a probe. At present, no other agency has approached us and no discussions have been held for transferring the probe,” Akbar said.