CB confirms Pakistan nationality of woman in ITR spy case, claims she is still active

BHUBANESWAR: The state Crime Branch on Wednesday confirmed that the unidentified woman, who had elicited sensitive information about the Integrated Test Range (ITR) in Balasore from five former DRDO staff, was from Pakistan and that she seems to be still in touch with some DRDO staff in Balasore.
“We have come to know that after the arrest of the five former DRDO staff, the Pakistani woman is now trying to lure some other employees at the ITR. She has sent friend requests to some ITR staff and started chatting up with them via Facebook Messenger. We are keeping a close watch and will take action accordingly,” additional director general of police (Crime Branch) Sanjeeb Panda told TOI.
The probe agency, which is yet to ascertain the name of the Pakistani agent, said she had opened seven accounts on Facebook, all in fictitious Indian names. “We have found that she had operated three Facebook accounts from Islamabad and one from Rawalpindi to honey-trap the five who were arrested earlier. She used proxy IP addresses of India, Germany and US to operate the other three Facebook accounts,” Panda said.
Experts said the Crime Branch probe is mostly likely to come to a halt as the agent is from Pakistan. “Even if the Crime Branch takes the help of Interpol, it will not be able to identify the foreign handler and other gang members, who belong to Pakistan. The Crime Branch should gather credible evidence and substantiate the Pakistan link in court so that the accused are convicted,” said Sidharth Das, a senior lawyer said.
Basanta Behera, Hemanta Mistri, Tapas Ranjan Nayak, Sheikh Musafir and Sachin Kumar, who were allegedly honey-trapped by the Pakistani handler, were arrested by Balasore police on September 14 for sharing classified information regarding the ITR with the foreign agent.
Sources said the woman had been in touch with the five through a UK SIM since February last year. The accused allegedly sent photos and data related to the missile tests, cluster bombs and atomic power systems of the ITR to her.
One of the accused had allegedly received Rs 38,000 from an account in Dubai. The probe agency said the possibility of more financial transactions between the accused and the agent cannot be ruled out.
Cyber experts of the Crime Branch have been engaged to thoroughly scan social media handles and phones of the accused and their chats with the agent. The mobile phones and laptops of the accused have been sent to the cyber forensic laboratory here for examination.
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