NIA Court convicts accused Arun Selvarajan in Thameem Ansari case

Sri Lankan National Arun Selvarajan was convicted by the National Investigation Agency's (NIA) special court on Friday. The Sri Lankan national was convicted for all the charges in connection with Thameem Ansari Espionage Case and sentenced to five years of rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs 20,000.

"The Case was originally registered on September 17, 2012, at Q Branch Police Station, Trichy, Tamil Nadu under section 3, 4 and 9 of Official Secrets Act read with section 120B of IPC after the arrest of Thameem Ansari, a native of Thanjavur district, Tamil Nadu on September 16, 2012, for conducting espionage at the behest of  Pakistan Intelligence officers led by accused Amir Zubair Siddique posted at the Pakistan High Commission in Colombo, as part of the conspiracy to carry out terrorist acts in India. NIA had re-registered the case on May 1, 2013, and taken over the investigation," a press note from the NIA read.

"Later, accused Arun Selvarajan was arrested in this case on September 10, 2014, for engaging in similar espionage activities, at the behest of   Pakistan Intelligence officers. The investigation had established that the accused persons Thameem Ansari and Arun Selvarajan pursuant to the conspiracy hatched with Pakistan intelligence officers had conducted espionage at various defence establishments and sensitive locations in the state and transmitted such classified information to Amir Zubair Siddique thereby threatening the sovereignty and security of India," the presser added.

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A charge sheet was filed against Thameem Ansari and Arun Selvarajan

Earlier, the NIA had stated that trial against Thameem Ansari would continue. "On March 6, 2015, a charge-sheet was filed against Thameem Ansari and Arun Selvarajan. Later, supplementary charge-sheet was filed against Arun Selvarajan on March 30, 2016. Charges were framed against Thameem Ansari and Arun Selvarajan on January 8, 2018, and trial had commenced on January 29, 2018. Accused Arun Selvarajn has now been convicted for all the charges against him. The trial against Thameem Ansari continues," the presser said.

NIA also informed that the investigation against the absconding accused Mohammed Anver Mohammed Siraj Ali, who is a native of Sri Lanka, Pakistan intelligence officer Amir Zubair Siddique and others involved in the matter would continue.

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(With inputs from ANI)