BHUBANESWAR : In a new twist to the DRDO espionage case, the Crime Branch has stumbled upon the link of another woman operative who had financial transactions with one of the five accused persons.
The woman had developed online friendship with the accused after identifying herself as a native of Balasore who worked in Dubai. She had then sought financial help of Rs 40,000, which she returned in a day.
Crime Branch ADG Sanjeeb Panda said the woman was close to the accused through social media claiming that she belonged to the same district and had received the money in two installments.
The accused had transferred Rs 30,000 and Rs 10,000 to two Mumbai-based bank accounts as suggested by the woman on April 18. The amount was returned to the SBI account of the accused the next day.
Panda said the two account holders with whom the money transfers were made have been identified and a team of investigating officials will soon visit Mumbai to inquire whether they are part of the conspiracy.
“During investigation we came to know that cash was deposited in the SBI account. Since the identity of the woman operative has not been established, it will be difficult to say she is the same agent who had honey-trapped the accused persons to extract defence secrets,” he said.
Earlier, another accused was found to have received Rs 38,000 in two installments and a part payment (Rs 24,000) was transferred to his bank account through Lulu International Exchange based at Dubai.
Establishing the link of Pakistan in the DRDO espionage case, the Crime Branch had claimed that the woman agent was operating three social media accounts from Islamabad and one from Rawalpindi through proxy IPs of India, US, UK and Germany.
While the probing agency has moved the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) for information on internet domains used by the Pakistani agent, the transaction details that surfaced recently will be an added advantage for zeroing in on the woman.
The arrested contractual employees included two AC operators, one diesel generator operator and one gate keeper besides, one driver and a permanent staff. She had promised to marry two of them during separate conversations.