CHANDIGARH: Punjab Police and the counter-intelligence wing on Monday arrested two alleged accused in a covert surveillance operation monitoring army movement near high-security military zone of Bathinda.
Sources said that an unauthorised solar-powered CCTV camera had been fitted on an electricity pole near a cement factory on the Bathinda-Sriganganagar Highway, reportedly transmitting the information through an embedded SIM card for the past three months, which has raised questions about the functioning of security and intelligence agencies.
These cameras were detected by the Thermal station house officer Harjiwan Singh recently, when a team was investigating a road accident. Singh was suspicious of these cameras in an isolated area of the busy highway and a subsequent checking revealed that the cameras were used for covert operations. The inserted SIM card was registered to Ashok, who was arrested on June 10.
Sources further said that Akashdeep Singh of Sarai village in Ajnala sub division of Amritsar district, allegedly installed a solar-powered CCTV camera on a pole along the highwatt to stream live video feeds to unidentified individuals in Pakistan and Canada.
A case under the Official Secrets Act and the Prevention of Public Property Act was registered at the Thermal police station on June 9.
Joint teams of the Bathinda police, CIA staff and Counter Intelligence units have launched an investigation. Superintendent of Police of Bathinda (City) Narinder Singh said that during the investigation, the police came to know that the camera feed of the movement of police and security forces was being sent to anti-national elements in Pakistan and Canada.
"The CCTV footage was analyzed technical evidence and human intelligence inputs led to identify the suspects Ashok Singh (40), a cook, and Akashdeep Singh (22), an unemployed youth, both residents of Sarai village in Amritsar district. Both of them have been arrested."
"Efforts are underway to apprehend the remaining accused through continuous raids. We cannot reveal their identities," he said and added 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.
The security breach directly targets the Bathinda military station, one of the country’s largest military bases and the headquarters of the army’s 10 Corps, or Chetak Corps.
Investigators are expanding their search to Kapurthala in Punjab and Hanumangarh in Rajasthan, where the three accused recently travelled, to determine if similar surveillance equipment has been deployed near other strategic defence installations.
"The alleged accused had also 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," said Singh.
The police declined to name the cellular network used or the specific digital evidence seized and the exact transaction amounts.