STF arrests 3 over ‘ISI links’, two of them ‘TMC workers’ | The Indian Express
‘Pakistani spy’ held in UP’s Meerut Friday had taken names of these three.
The Special Task Force of the Kolkata Police Sunday arrested a contract labourer, his son and another relative for their alleged links to the Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI). Irshad Ansari (51), a contract labourer with Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Limited (GRSE), his son Asfaq Ansari (23) and relative Mohammed Jahangir – were arrested this afternoon from Dr Sudhir Bose Road in the Iqbalpur police station area in the southern part of the city, a senior STF officer said.
Significantly, Irshad was an active member of TMC-backed labour union of the port area whereas Asfaq was the general secretary of Trinamool
Congress Chhatra Parishad — student wing of the TMC — at a college in Watgunge in south Kolkata. While the local TMCP leaders admitted that Irshad was a TMC worker, state TMCP president Ashok Rudra claimed Asfaq had been “removed two months ago over anti-party activities”.
Giving details, an STF officials said all the three arrested are residents of the city’s Garden Reach area. Besides recovering several documents revealing their links to the ISI, the STF also seized fake indian currency notes with a face value Rs 2 lakh from Irshad and Rs 1.5 lakh each from Asfaq and Jahangir, the official added.
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A hand-drawn map of the GRSE and the Netaji Subhas Dock were seized from Irshad who has been working with the warship building company for quite some time. We are investigating his intention and whether or not he had passed on the maps of any other sensitive area to the Pakistani agency,” the officer said.
They have been booked under the IPC sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 121 (waging or attempting to wage war against the Government of India) and 489B (using as genuine forged or counterfeit currency notes or bank notes) among otehrs.
Sources in the Kolkata Police said primary investigation revealed that
both Irshad and Jahangir have relatives in Karachi and were “hired” by the ISI “as their agents” during their visit to the neighbouring country.
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Both have been working as ISI agents for over ten years and their primary job was to pass on information from India. We are further investigating their roles,” STF deputy commissioner Akhilesh Kumar Chaturvedi said.
The officer said the information regarding the country’s defence was passed on to the ISI, electronically and manually, by the accused. “They were using WhatsApp, sometimes emails and at times manually passed on the information,” he said, adding that several visits to Bangladesh were made by the accused in recent times. The role of Asfaq is yet to be ascertained, an officer said.
Asked whether the persons had any connection with the suspected Pakistani agent arrested by the Uttar Pradesh STF in Meerut on Friday, the officer said: “We cannot neglect that. We will get in touch with the UP STF.”
Sources, however, said
the person arrested in UP, Mohammad Eizaz who changed his name to Mohammad Kalam in India, was given shelter by Irshad at his Garden Reach home.
“Irshad had helped Kalam obtain fake documents such as a voter ID card with a Bareilly address and an Aadhaar card.”
Significantly, UP STF officials had told
The Indian Express Friday that Eizaz had admitted to have been introduced to Mohammad Irshad, arrested on Saturday.
“Irshad helped Eizaz with fake documents through one of his relatives Jahangir, a resident of Kolkata,” the UP STF had said after Eizaz’s arrest.
Eizaz, on Saturday, was remanded to 14 days’ judicial custody by the special court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Sanjay Singh in Meerut. The Meerut’s Sadar police, too, has sought his remand for seven days for interrogation, for which a hearing would be held in the court on Monday, ATS Circle Officer Ankit Kumar said.
Eizaz — a resident of Taramadi Chowk at Irfanabad in Islamabad — was arrested when he was on his way to Delhi. Documents related to Indian Army, Pakistani identity proof, fake voter identity of West Bengal, fake Aadhaar card with a Bareilly district address, Delhi Metro card, laptop, and pen drives were found on him.
Meanwhile, family members of the three alleged that the Kolkata Police has “cooked up” a case since all three had been reported “missing” since Thursday morning. Family members claimed to have lodged a “missing diary” with the Garden Reach Police Station Thursday night itself. “We just have relatives in Pakistan whom we visit sometimes,” a family member, who declined to be named, said.
The police also said they are investigating if the three arrested had any connection with suspected ISI agents Akhtar and Jaffar Khan, who had been arrested a few weeks ago.
ISI agent arrested in UP with sensitive documents
Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force arrests suspected ISI agent; Indian Army
The ISI agent is said to be Mohammad Eizaz alias Mohammad Kalam and he used to allegedly send vital information about the Indian Army to Pakistani intelligence agency ISI.
Documents related to Indian Army, Pakistani identity proof, fake voter identity of West Bengal, fake Aadhar card in address of Bareilly district, Delhi Metro card, laptop, pen drives were recovered from his possession.
"In 2013, he visited Pakistan and came into contact with ISI agent there. We are investigating further into their roles", he said.
"They had been visiting Pakistan for several years and there they were trained by the ISI for this specific service.
The espionage racket run by them is supported by Pakistan's ISI", Yadav said, adding that the duo has been arrested under various provisions of IPC and Official Secrets Act. "We will get in touch with the UP STF".
All the four persons have been booked in this connection, the CO said, adding that efforts are on to arrest them.
The court of Special Chief Judicial Magistrate Sanjay Singh yesterday passed the order placing Eizaz in judicial custody for 14 days, ATS Circle Officer Ankit Kumar said today.