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Friday, November 15, 2024

Saving number of ‘Pak bhai’ in phone contacts lands Indian policeman in spy row

Indian authorities allege Kashmir policeman was in touch with handler named 'Pak bhai' for espionage activities

Indian authorities have charged former deputy superintendent of Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir Police, Devender Singh, with spying for Pakistan after authorities claimed that they had recovered the contact of his alleged handler in Pakistan, Indian publication The Economic Times reported on Monday.

According to the report, Sindh had saved the number of his alleged handler in Pakistan under the name ‘Pak Bhai’. Indian authorities claimed that Singh had been tasked to carry out further espionage activities in the Hindu-majority country. The alleged handlers of Singh have gone back to Pakistan, the authorities claim.

Singh charged under Unlawful Activities Act

The 3,064-page charge sheet, filed under the controversial Unlawful Activities Act, whereby individuals have previously been charged under precarious circumstances, was filed against Singh and five others. The charge sheet alleges that Singh wished to provide shelter to terrorists.

The charge-sheet alleges that Singh committed himself to a militant group. Singh, it says, was asked to establish a contact in the Indian Ministry of External Affairs by a Pakistani handler, which was to be the center of novel activities. It is also alleged that Singh unimaginatively named his handler “Pak Bhai (Pakistani Brother)” in his contacts.

Read more: Turkish President Erdogan played vital role in exposing Hindutva designs in occupied Kashmir: Afridi

Singh, however, was conveniently caught before he could do so, the report dryly observes. The charge-sheet also accuses Singh of ‘waging war against India.’ Others that have been charged include Syed Naveed Mushtaq also called “Naveed Babu,” his brother Syed Irfan Ahmad, as well as the group’s alleged overground worker Irfan Shafi Mir.

https://twitter.com/standwkashmir/status/1290665273138315265

 

Detailing the conspiracy, the Indian authorities alleged that Singh, who is in a jail, was “in touch with certain Pakistani officials through secure social media platforms. Investigation revealed that he was being groomed by Pakistani officials for obtaining sensitive information. Evidence regarding these charges is yet to be filed.

Six men released after more than two decades of wrongful imprisonment

In August last year, a group of six men were released after 23 years of being wrongfully convicted. “We are innocent,” wrote Ali Muhammad Bhat in his diary in September 2014 when he was among six men awarded life sentences by a court in western India’s Rajasthan state.
“They had no witnesses against us. Police also said in court that these Kashmiris are innocent,” he wrote, referring to the May 22, 1996 bomb blast in Rajasthan’s Samleti village, in which 14 people were killed.
Police accused a now-defunct rebel outfit, the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, for the blast, linking the six men to the group. After 23 years of imprisonment in the case without any bail or parole, the Rajasthan High Court on July 23 declared them innocent and ordered their release.

GVS News Desk