Gujarat: Health worker arrested on charges of spying for Pakistan
The Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad on Saturday arrested a 28-year-old contractual health worker from Kutch district for allegedly giving sensitive information about military establishments to a Pakistani spy, PTI reported.
This was the third arrest related to alleged spying in the state in the past eight months, The Indian Express said.
The accused man, Sahdevsinh Deepubha Gohil, a contractual multipurpose health worker posted at the Mata-na-Madh Primary Health Centre in Kutch, allegedly shared sensitive photos and videos of installations of the Border Security Force and the Indian Navy with the operative.
Gohil came in contact with the Pakistani agent, who identified herself as Aditi Bharadwaj, on WhatsApp in mid-2023, PTI quoted the police as saying.
'After winning his trust, the agent sought photos and videos of BSF and Indian Navy offices and ongoing construction around his village,' Superintendent of Police (ATS) Siddharth Korukonda said. 'Gohil shared the requested classified information via WhatsApp.'
The police official alleged that the health worker knew that the woman was a Pakistani spy.
In January, Gohil allegedly obtained a new SIM card using his Aadhaar and activated WhatsApp on it before handing it over to Bharadwaj, the anti-terrorism squad alleged.
The health worker allegedly received Rs 40,000 in cash via a middleman for the leaked information, The Indian Express added.
The anti-terrorism squad detained Gohil on May 1, and arrested him on Saturday. A case has been filed under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita pertaining to criminal conspiracy and waging or abetting war against the government.
A case has been filed under the same sections against the operative 'Aditi Bharadwaj' as well.
In the past two weeks, at least 13 persons have been arrested across the country on allegations of spying for Pakistan and leaking sensitive information about Operation Sindoor, the Indian military operation against terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
This comes against the backdrop of heightened tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad in the wake of the April 22 Pahalgam terrorist attack, which left 26 persons dead.
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