Suspected ISI operative sent to police custody

Suspected ISI agent Sheikh Badal, who was arrested by the Special Task Force (STF) of Kolkata Police, was on Thursday sent to police custody till December 14 by a court here.

Metropolitan Magistrate Sanjay Ranjan Paul remanded the 59-year-old Badal in 11 days police custody.

Badal was arrested from near the Regional Passport Office in the city on Wednesday.

Busting a suspected module of Pakistani spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence, the STF has nabbed six alleged operatives from the city in the last three weeks.

Badal is said to be an accomplice of the five others and allegedly forged their passports.

He is also said to have assisted Pakistani national Mohammad Ejaz, another suspected ISI agent held from Uttar Pradesh's Meerut.

The sleuths on November 14 had arrested Akhtar Khan alias Mohamad Javed and following his interrogation, nabbed his brother Zafar Khan two days later.

Subsequently, the trio of Irshad Ansari, Asfaq Ansari and Mohammad Jahangir was arrested for their alleged role in leaking out strategic information to the ISI.

Besides a host of forged documents and fake Indian currency notes, police also seized hand-drawn maps of defence PSU Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) which builds warships for the Indian Navy.

According to police, Irshad Ansari, who worked as a temporary worker at GRSE, allegedly sent pictures to Pakistan of warships, including the anti-submarine warfare (ASW) corvette Kadmatt which was recently delivered to the Indian Navy.