NEW DELHI: A serving Army personnel was on Sunday arrested by the Delhi Police from Siliguri in West Bengal in connection with the alleged ISI-linked espionage racket, taking to five the number of people taken into custody in the case.
The accused, identified as Farid Khan, is an army hawaldar who allegedly shared secret information with suspected intelligence operatives of Pakistan.
“He was arrested from Siliguri today by an eight-member Crime Branch team which was rushed there,” Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ravindra Yadav told reporters here. Kafaitullah, the suspected ring leader and ISI operative, was the first to be arrested in New Delhi on November 26, while he was heading to Bhopal to attend a religious congregation and allegedly recruit more spies.
Next, a serving Border Security Force jawan, Abdul Rasheed, former army hawaldar Munawwar Ahmad Mir and a government school teacher, Sabar, were taken into custody. Sabar was arrested from his rented accommodation in Rajouri district, Jammu and Kashmir, on Saturday. “Farid used the code name Surgeon and he came under the police scanner after they obtained a CD - which had conversations - from the possession of Khan.
Farid, booked under provisions of the Official Secrets Act, was produced before a court and shall be brought to Delhi by tomorrow on a transit remand,” said a Crime Branch official.
Farid had met Sabar during his posting in Rajouri and was later introduced to the other members of the alleged network.He had been detained by the army and later handed over to the Crime Branch team, following which he was apprehended by the police.
Meanwhile, a 14-member team of the Crime Branch police, which was rushed to Rajouri, has reached Delhi with Mir and Sabar, who are to be produced before a city court on Monday.
The team is investigating if some other army personnel were also involved, the official said.
Mir, Sabar and Farid will be confronted during interrogation and cross-examined on the basis of emerging details, the official said. Through their interrogation, the police will also try to find out the alleged ISI source employed at the office of the Pakistan High Commission here.