The Military Intelligence Unit of the Indian Army has arrested a man named Nirmal Rai from the Kibithu village of Arunachal Pradesh. Nirmal is charged with sharing sensitive information with the Pakistan spy agency ISI. Nirmal was associated with the army as a porter from the last couple of months and worked in Kibithu and Dichu, the last border villages of Arunachal Pradesh.
Nirmal worked as a porter with the Army in the border villages of Kibithu and Dichu. Army hires porters occasionally to transport their and luggage and equipment to different locations. However, thorough background verification is done before employing locals as porters. As per reports, Nirmal was a resident of Tinsukhia village in Assam. He was reportedly in contact with an ISI handler.
Acting on a tip-off the Army arrested Rai and handed him over to the police. He has been arrested under the Official Secrets Act and 120B of the Indian Penal Code. Various pictures of sensitive Army installations and bridges were found on his now impounded phone. His phone has been seized and. Apart from this, specific confidential information was also found on his mobile phone.
The investigative agencies claim that Rai was contacted by a Dubai man to carry out espionage activities for the Pakistani spy agency. Rai, who worked earlier at a burger shop, was trained in taking photographs and passing sensitive information by this ISI agent. As per preliminary reports, sensitive information about Army deployment and location, weapons information and number of Artillery installations in Kibithu was passed on to his Dubai based handler.
“We have information that Nirmal had correspondence with an Indonesian woman living in Dubai and a man from Dubai who later turned him into an ISI mole. We are in the process to determine what information has been shared to Pakistan and how many people are in his spy network,” an intelligence officer said. The Military Intelligence Unit has initiated the probe to see if he was working alone or had any more fellow collaborators working with him.
In recent times, there has been a spurt in the espionage activities carried out in sensitive locations of strategic importance. A few months back, an Engineer at Brahmos facility in Nagpur was arrested for alleged spying and passing on sensitive information to his ISI handlers.
