A Thane court on Monday extended the custody of an engineer Ravindra Verma, who was arrested by the Maharashtra’s Anti-Terrorism Squad for allegedly sharing classified information about warships and submarines to Pakistan, till June 5.
The court ordered that Verma be held in the custody of Thane police till the next hearing of the case to be held on June 5, after the ATS had sought the extension of Verma’;s custody on the ground that it needed to conduct a probe at his work place and question his colleagues.
Verma (27) — a resident of Kalwa in Thane district who works as a junior engineer in a defence technology firm – has been booked under section three of the Official Secrets Act that deals with espionage, and section 61 (2) (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
The prosecution’s contention is that being an employee of a defence technology company, Verma had got access to the Naval Dockyard in Mumbai and neighbouring sensitive areas and that he would also go on board naval ships and submarines.
During its week-long investigation, the ATS found out that Verma, who had been honey-trapped by a Pakistani agent posing as a woman on Facebook, had passed on sensitive information about warships and submarines to the Pakistani Intelligence Operative through sketches, diagrams and audio notes. The ATS suspected that he also shared the names of submarines and warships with the Pakistani agent.
The police told the court that he received money from various bank accounts in India and abroad in return.
After Verma’s arrest last week, an ATS officer had said that during the investigations, it has come to light, during November 2024 to March 2025, he was allegedly in touch with Pakistan Intelligence Operative (PIO) through social media platforms. “Through WhatsApp, Verma has passed sensitive information about prohibited areas to the PIO,” the officer had said.
At Monday’s hearing in court, Verma’s lawyer Rajhans Girase opposed the extension of Verma’;s custody on the ground that he had been implicated in the case and that police didn’t possess concrete evidence against him. He also told the court that Verma’s arrest was illegal as the ATS didn’t follow the legal guidelines.