New Delhi: A Delhi court Monday extended by seven days the custodial interrogation of freelance journalist Rajeev Sharma. The freelance journalist has been arrested in an espionage case under the Official Secrets Act.
Sharma was produced before Metropolitan Magistrate Pawan Singh Rajawat. The investigators said his further custodial interrogation was necessary since he has to be confronted with two of his associates – a Chinese woman and a Nepalese man. The police custody of both have been also extended till September 28.
Further, the Special Cell of the Delhi Police told the court that it needed to conduct its investigation in relation to the Defence Ministry. This is because Sharma was ‘found to be in possession of some defence-related classified documents’.
The court allowed interrogation of the three accused in police custody. However, it directed the cops to hand over a copy of the FIR to Sharma’s counsel Adish Aggarwala.
The hearing was conducted virtually and press was allowed to attend the proceedings. Sharma was arrested September 14 and was remanded to police custody for a week.
According to the police, the Chinese woman and her Nepalese associate were also arrested for paying him large amounts of money routed through shell companies.