New Delhi: Last Thursday, an Odisha court convicted a videographer working on contract with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for espionage and sharing sensitive information with Pakistani intelligence agency, ISI.
Ishwar Chandra Behera, 41, was found guilty under Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 121 (waging, or attempting to wage war, or abetting waging of war against the government of India) and 121A (conspiracy to commit offence under Section 121) of the Indian Penal Code, along with provisions relating to spying under the Official Secrets Act, 1923, and awarded life imprisonment.
Behera was contracted to take videos at the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur in Balasore district and Wheeler Island, from where missiles and cluster bombs are tested by the DRDO.
The court of Balasore additional district and sessions judge Girija Prasad Mahapatra cited intercepted phone calls received by Behera from a nine-digit mobile number — which began with him saying “good night sir” — and a money trail to convict him.
According to DRDO sources, Behera had been videographing at the ITR on contractual basis “since about 2007 till the matter came to notice”. Behera, the sources said, lived outside Balasore town, and had never been found engaging in any malpractice before this incident came to notice.
The court concluded that the evidence proved that Behera “was spying inside the ITR and taking advantage of his engagement”, noting that though his work was contractual, he could be able to approach, inspect, pass over the vicinity of the prohibited area, and take photographs and videos of the launch of missiles and various military activities “with an intent to transmit such information to the bearer of the suspected nine-digit mobile number”.
The judge also listed several major terror attacks that have taken place in India, including the 1993 Mumbai blasts, the 2001 Parliament attack, the 2006 Mumbai train blasts and the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack in 2008, asserting that these were carried out by “Pakistan-based militants”, who were able to do so by collecting information from people like Behera in exchange for money.
“A group of these people of India like the present convict are regularly supplying information to the enemies,” the court said, asserting that people like Behera “who are putting the safety and security of the Union of India at the hands of the terrorists are also the terrorists”.
Thus, the court awarded him life imprisonment, and also said it was not sentencing him to death, because then “he will not be in a position to understand what he did and what he suffered”.
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The ISI connection
The FIR in the case was filed in January 2015, alleging that Behera used to collect information about the activities of the DRDO and communicate classified defence secrets regarding launching of missiles, testing of cluster bombs and other accessories etc. at ITR and Wheeler Island to a Pakistani agent since 2013. In return, he was regularly paid in cash by e-money orders and through his bank account.
The chargesheet in the case was filed against Behera and one Asif Alli, who was allegedly an ISI agent himself. Alli has been under trial since August 2014 for his alleged involvement in transmitting sensitive information regarding national defence security to another Pakistani ISI agent.
According to the authorities, Alli, whose family is from Meerut, is married to a Pakistani national. While he wanted to settle with his family in Karachi, he could not do it due to visa issues. In 2007, he was arrested in Karachi after he overstayed the expiry of his visa. He was released allegedly on the condition that he would help the Pakistan police.
According to the prosecution, Alli was asked to give the Pakistanis three contact numbers from India, one of which was Behera’s. The authorities said that since then, Behera and Alli had been in regular contact with ISI agents and were sending defence secrets to them.
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Intercepted calls
According to the judgment, Behera’s call data records revealed calls from a nine-digit phone number.
Judge Mahapatra noted that the 9-digit number was prefixed with +91, which is the country code for India, but pointed out that all mobile numbers have 10 digits in India, and that “if one number out of 10-digit SIM number is withheld to be displayed as caller ID”, it is of benefit to the caller, as it makes it difficult for the intelligence wing to get subscriber details.
“This process of hiding the original subscriber identity module (SIM) number is having been rampantly used by the account hackers in order to be protected against the identity and penalty,” the judge said.
Behera disclosed during his interrogation that he received a call from a nine-digit number in December 2013, claiming to be a Colonel Srivastava from Hyderabad. The judgment adds that Behera said ‘Col. Srivastava’ used to frequently enquire about the mission programmes at various test centres.
The investigating officer intercepted these calls, and Behera’s voice samples were sent for forensic analysis, the judgment adds. It was claimed that the intercepted calls showed “valuable information” regarding activities of DRDO being transmitted to the Pakistani agency.
The court noted that the calls between them always began with Behera saying “good night sir”. During one of the calls in December 2014, the person on the other end of the call said he was in Pakistan, and was “very eagerly enquiring about different military activities inside the ITR time and again”.
“The details of the intercepted calls clearly point out that apart from some personal conversation on each and every occasion, the accused was transmitting about the functions and missions proposed to take place at different places inside the ITR as well as inside Wheeler Island,” the judgment said.
The court asserted that “such an intention of enquiry by a foreign national clearly shows that if at all amongst such information he could be able to know one information to be extremely significant to execute a drastic action against the sovereignty of India, it could fulfil his desire to cause damage to India”.
The money trail
The authorities alleged that Alli was sending e-money orders to Behera under fictitious names.
According to the judgment, Alli admitted to having sent money twice to Behera in July 2014, on direction of one Zahid, and also allegedly disclosed his modus operandi to the police, saying he “made espionage and shared all my knowledge with Col. Srivastava without thinking about the result of supplying such information to the so-called Zahid”.
Alli’s statement led to the discovery of the money orders. Experts confirmed that the handwriting on the money orders was Alli’s.
Behera’s bank account statements also revealed that he was receiving money from different parts of India including Bihar, Mumbai, Delhi and Allahabad, and also from Abu Dhabi.
“This shows that the accused was receiving money time and again from different persons,” the court said, adding that Behera had nothing to say about why money was paid to him randomly throughout by so many strangers.
Behera’s defence
In his defence, Behera had denied all allegations against him, and claimed that the cash, e-transfer and money orders were for his photo and video shoots.
During the hearing, he had also submitted that the allegations against him were misconceived as “neither the activities of the DRDO inside the ITR regarding launching of missiles, cluster bombs etc. were secret nor taking photographs and videographs inside the ITR was ever prohibited since every launching of missiles, satellites testing of weapons etc. are duly telecast in local and national television networks as a matter of right and pride”.
The court, however, rejected this contention, noting that affairs of the DRDO and ISRO are kept secret, and that the intercepted conversations showed that Behera was transmitting launch programmes of ITR and Wheeler Island ahead of their execution.
The court further observed that the intercepted conversation proved that Behera supplied information about proposed activities at ITR, “which were directly useful to the enemy countries like Pakistan and such disclosure was definitely to affect the security of India”.
What DRDO is doing to prevent an incident like this
DRDO sources said police verification had been carried out before engaging Behera for videography at the ITR, “in addition to a regular verification”.
Behera, the sources said, lived outside Balasore town, and had never been found engaging in any malpractice before this incident came to notice.
To prevent any such occurrence in the future, “access to sensitive information has been further restricted” among such individuals, the sources added.
(With inputs from Snehesh Alex Philip)
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Shocked and distressed that a Hindu works as spy for Pakistan which is avowed enemy of Hindus and India. He should have been hanged. At a later date, some foolish government may release him.