New Delhi: The Punjab Police Saturday arrested two men—a daily wage labourer and a carpenter—from the Amritsar (rural) district on the charge of sharing sensitive information on defence establishments with Pakistani operatives in the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
The accused, who allegedly shared inputs about the army and air and border forces, are Palak Sher Masih and Suraj Masih from the Ballaharwal village in the Ajnala tehsil of the Amritsar district, according to Punjab Police.
Officers alleged the duo shared photos and videos of troop movements, as well as entry and exit points of their camps, compromising their safety in the border district.
In exchange for the information, the duo received money from foreign-based handlers of ISI, Punjab Police claimed, adding that the last bit of information was shared the day before, Rs 10,000 were received earlier this week.
“Suraj received Rs 10,000 in his bank account, and they distributed the amount equally. They confessed to receiving the money in exchange for sharing information—the bank account reflected it. A detailed investigation is required to get to the bottom of this module and unearth the exact volume and types of information passed on so far,” a Punjab Police officer said.
Punjab Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav said the duo got in touch with Pakistani intelligence agents through Harpreet Singh alias Happy, a prisoner in Amritsar Central Jail.
“Preliminary investigation reveals their links to Pakistani intelligence operatives, established through Harpreet Singh @Pittu @Happy, currently lodged in Amritsar Central Jail. A case has been registered under the Official Secrets Act, and the investigation is ongoing. Further critical revelations are expected as the probe deepens,” Yadav wrote on X.
At a press conference Sunday afternoon, Amirtsar (rural) Senior Superintendent of Police Maninder Singh said that the accused first started spying when picking up heroin consignments from the border region. Then, they began providing the ISI with sensitive information on military establishments. Minor information fetched them payments of Rs 5,000, whereas sensitive information, such as troop movements, fetched them Rs 10,000, SSP Singh further said.
A Punjab Police official said that Harpreet Singh, who led the duo to ISI operatives, is in Amritsar jail since being booked by the state’s Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) in a case linked to the recovery of 500 grams of heroin.
The Punjab Police operation began on Saturday when the station house officer of the Ajnala police station received a tip-off from a police informer, saying that the accused were constantly engaged on the phone, possibly with Pakistani agents.
“They have links with ISI, take photographs of army vehicles on the roads, and send them to the agents of Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI to provide information about the movements and locations of Army, BSF and Air Force camps on the border, and in return, ISI transfers money to their accounts—using which they further collect such information, travelling around towns and villages,” a Punjab Police officer noted in the First Information Report, a copy of which ThePrint has seen.
Punjab Police booked the accused men under sections 3, 5, and 9 of the Official Secrets Act, 1923 (OSA), setting penalties for spying, wrongful communication of information, and punishment for abetment of offences under this act. Section 61 (2) (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita, 2023, and Section 67 of the IT Act, 2000, dealing with offences such as publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form, were slapped, too.
A local court in Amritsar has sent accused Palak and Suraj to four-day police custody.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)