Odisha: The Odisha High Court on Tuesday directed the Odisha Crime Branch to submit a status report on the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) espionage case. The court’s direction came in response to a petition filed by an advocate seeking a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or the National Investigation Agency (NIA) into the sensational spy case.
The High Court admitted the plea submitted by advocate Arun Kumar Budhia for hearing on the petition and issued notices to the respondents which include the Crime Branch, Centre, CBI and NIA.
The Odisha police have so far arrested four contractual employees of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur in Balasore district for involvement in the spy ring which is suspected to have been run by cross-border handlers at the behest of Pakistani intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). A four-member team led by Additional SP Prasant Kumar Bisoyi is currently investigating the case following the direction of the Director General of Police (DGP), Abhay.
As per the revelations so far, the four accused wrongfully and willfully communicated classified defence secrets to foreign agents, appearing to be Pakistani agents. They were contacted from various ISD phone numbers and were arrested for committing offence of causing serious harm to the national security, sovereignty and integrity. Police said the arrested accused were honey-trapped into divulging sensitive information to their handlers.
Earlier, a similar case in Balasore district was registered with the Chandipur police and investigated by the Crime Branch that had resulted in the conviction of the accused, a photographer engaged at the high security installation.
