NIA court jails man in Pakistan-led espionage case

A special NIA court has sentenced a key accused in a Pakistan-led espionage conspiracy case involving fraudulent use of SIM cards and misuse of social media platforms to more than five years in jail, officials said on Wednesday. The accused, Altafhusen Ghanchibhai alias Shakil, had pleaded guilty during the trial, in which 37 witnesses had been examined by the prosecution, they said.

After convicting the accused for misusing unique identification features, including SIM cards, one-time passwords (OTPs), as well as social media, the special court of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, pronounced the sentence on Tuesday.

Accordingly, Ghanchibhai has been sentenced to simple imprisonment for five years and six months with a fine of Rs 5,000 under Section 18 (punishment for conspiracy, etc) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), and to simple imprisonment for two years and six months with a fine of Rs 5,000 under Section 66C (punishment for identity theft) of the Information Technology Act, 2000. The two sentences will run concurrently to the maximum term of 5.5 years, an NIA statement said on Wednesday. The cross-border conspiracy case involved the use of Indian SIM cards belonging to fishermen arrested by the Pakistan Navy during fishing on the high seas, it said.

The mobile phones and SIM cards of these fishermen were seized by the Pakistan Navy and later activated by the accused in India to facilitate espionage activities, the probe agency said.

The seized mobile phones and SIM cards of these fishermen were later activated by the accused in India to facilitate espionage activities, the probe agency said. The NIA investigation conclusively established that the accused inserted the Indian SIM cards in his mobile handset and generated OTPs, which he shared with Pakistani Intelligence Operatives (PIOs), enabling operation of Indian WhatsApp numbers from Pakistan, the statement said.

The compromised Indian numbers were subsequently used by the PIOs to contact Indian defence personnel under fake identities, with the intent to elicit sensitive and restricted defence-related information, thereby threatening the unity, integrity, security and sovereignty of India, it added.