Espionage case: Naumen Elahi sent to judicial custody

Time of India

24-05-2025

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Chandigarh: Investigations revealed that Naumen Elahi, a native of Kairana from Uttar Pradesh, was in touch with Indian-origin Pakistan-based ISI operative Iqbal Kana and used to share secret information with him during
Operation Sindoor
.
Naumen was the first to be arrested by Haryana police from Panipat on May 13, and he was lodged in the custody of the CIA staff and special cell of Panipat. On Saturday, he was produced before the duty magistrate, who remanded him to judicial custody.
In his mid-20s, Naumen worked as a security guard in a private factory in Panipat. He travelled to Pakistan in 2017. Since then, he was under the lens of central intelligence agencies.
Referring to the investigation and interrogations, sources in the police revealed that Naumen was one of the recruits of Iqbal Kana, who also had roots in Kairana, a bordering district of Pakistan.
Kana escaped from India to Pakistan nearly three decades ago after his name cropped up in the supply of weapons to antisocial and anti-national elements in a case that was being probed by the special cell of Delhi police. Delhi Police recovered over 290 firearms from their group.
Police said Naumen admitted to being in touch with Iqbal Kana and shared vital information related to vital installations and the position of various agencies.
Agencies claimed to have recovered six passports from his possession in Kairana. Besides this, police also seized incriminating documents confirming his links with handlers across the border. Three of the seized passports were his own, his mother's, and his sister's, and the remaining three were of a Panipat-based family.
"As police and central agencies have completed the questioning and recoveries have been made, he was no longer required for interrogation. So, the investigating officer opted for his judicial custody," an official privy to the development said.
Notably, now only two accused, including a woman YouTuber, are in the custody of Haryana police. Since May 13, Haryana police arrested five persons, including YouTuber Jyoti Malhotra, on charges of spying and espionage during Operation Sindoor. Besides Jyoti, Tareef of Nuh is the second accused who is in police custody in Mewat. Tareef will be produced in court on Sunday as his period of police custody ends on the day.