Indian Navy Spying Case: NIA Charge-Sheets Key Accused For Alleged Links With Pakistani Operatives

Visakhapatnam: While probing the Indian Navy spying case, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday chargesheeted one more accused in the case for his alleged links with the Pakistani intelligence operatives. The accused has been identified as Amaan Salim Shaikh, a resident of Maharashtra’s Mumbai, who is said to be the key accused in the case, involving a conspiracy by Pakistani agents to honey trap Indian Navy personnel to gather secret information regarding the defence establishments.

In its statement, the NIA on Friday stated, the anti-terror agency, which filed a supplementary chargesheet today in the NIA Special Court in Andhra Pradesh’s Visakhapatnam, has charged Amaan, under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and various other sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

NIA had earlier chargesheeted 2 accused in the case

During the investigation, the NIA, which took over the case on June 5th, 2023, found that Amaan was working for a suspected Pakistani agent, Usman, to further the anti-India conspiracy.

It was further revealed that the accused was also receiving money from other suspected Pakistani operatives, including Meer Balaj Khan, Alven and certain other individuals, through crypto channels for completing tasks assigned by the Pakistani intelligence operatives.

Earlier, the NIA had chargesheeted two other accused in the case on November 6th, last year.

The case was initially registered at the Counter Intelligence Cell of the Andhra Pradesh police and was later taken over by the NIA. According to the central probe agency, further legal action into the matter is being taken.