New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Wednesday arrested freelance journalist Vivek Raghuvanshi and former Navy commander Ashish Pathak on charges of alleged spying.
The CBI had booked Raghuvanshi Tuesday under provisions of the Officials Secrets Act for allegedly collecting sensitive information about the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Army and then sharing them with intelligence agencies of foreign countries.
The CBI registered a case against Raghuvanshi on 9 December for his “involved in the illegal collection of sensitive information including the minute details of the DRDO defence projects and their progress, sensitive details about the future procurement of Indian armed forces which reveal the strategic preparedness of country’s classified communications and information relating to national security, details of the strategic and diplomatic talks of India with our friendly countries”.
The probe agency also raided 12 locations in Jaipur and in the National Capital Region Tuesday, and recovered sensitive documents, officers said.
The agency has booked Raghuvanshi and former Navy commander Ashish Pathak under Section 3 (spying) of the Official Secrets Act and with Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.
According to information available on “Defense News” — an American website that also covers defence, politics, business and technology, Raghuvanshi was their India Correspondent.
He has also written for the website “India Narrative” and the latest article was titled – “India thinks big on military exports to Africa, Tejas jets, Akash missiles, combat helicopters on radar”.
Also read: Defence journalist for US site & freelancer – who is Vivek Raghuvanshi booked for espionage