Balasore: Four contractual employees arrested Tuesday over charges of espionage at the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in Chandipur town of Balasore district were allegedly honey-trapped for providing information on secret activities from the missile test facility.
According to a police source, the accused staffers were leaking secret information to some Pakistani agents. Meanwhile, the fourth accused whose identity was previously not disclosed has been identified as Hemant Mistry. He works as DG operator and had connections with a woman spying agent who lured the quartet to leak information.
Also read: 50 students stranded as residential school in Mayurbhanj gets waterlogged
Acting on a tip-off, Chandipur police arrested the four persons and registered a case (No-76, Dated-14.09.2021, under Sections-120-B/121-A/34 of IPC written with Sections-3, 4 and 5 of the Official Secrets Act, 1923) in this connection. The accused were forwarded to Balasore SDJM Court Wednesday, the police official stated.
It is pertinent to mention, others arrested for the espionage charge include Basant Behera, Tulu Behera and Sheikh Mustaq.
Earlier, a contractual cameraman named Ishwar Chandra Behera was arrested in February 2015 on charge of leaking secrets to Pakistani intelligence agency ISI. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for spying at the Integrated Test Range (ITR) February 11, 2021.
PNN