Suspected ISI spy held in Jaipur for leaking army secrets

Police in Jaipur, Rajasthan, have confirmed the arrest of an army staffer for allegedly passing on classified information to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

Additional Director General of Police (Intelligence) Rajasthan Dalpat Singh Dinkar said the accused person has been identified as Bidyut Kumar Sinha, adding that he was detained on May 14.

Dinkar said Sinha aged 43, was working with the Army Supply Corp and was posted in the South Western Command in Jaipur.

"The accused is a resident of Karimganj in Assam and was working closely with a Nepal-based ISI agent. He joined the Army Supply Corp in Jaipur in 1995 and was posted in Siliguri from 2000 to 2011 after which he was promoted and came back to Jaipur," he added.

"Through another colleague in the Army, Sinha had met the ISI agent in Nepal. He frequented Kathmandu to share strategic information about the Army and its movement with the ISI agent," Dinkar said.

He added that he was working as an Upper Division Clerk (UDC).

The special branch of Rajasthan Police interrogated Sinha under the Official Secrets Act. Sinha confessed to spying and important documents were recovered in raids conducted at his house, police said.

Different agencies are interrogating Sinha, who allegedly divulged that a retired Army officer helped him meet the ISI agent in Nepal.

The police said Sinha has confessed that the ISI paid for his trips to Kathmandu and that he was compensated in Nepalese and Indian currency for the information he delivered.

Officials said that Sinha used code language with the ISI handler to share classified information about Army's movement on the western front.

Sinha has been produced before a court and was later remanded to police custody for a week for further interrogation.

Meanwhile, the Indian Army has stepped up vigil in border areas of Poonch and Rajouri districts of India's Jammu and Kashmir state after inputs of infiltration bids from Pakistan.

Briefing the media, Deputy Inspector General of Police in Poonch district, Danesh Rana, said that militants from across the border are keen to disturb long-standing peace in these two districts.

"We have information that infiltration attempts from across of border can take place to disturb long standing peace in these two districts (Poonch and Rajouri)," said Rana.