DRDO official held in Odisha for sharing defence info with Pakistani spy

Balasore, Feb 24 (PTI) A senior official of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) was arrested on Friday for allegedly sharing secret information related to India’s defence sector with a Pakistani spy, the Odisha Police said.

The 57-year-old official was posted at the DRDO’s Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur in Odisha’s Balasore district, it said.

Chandipur has two DRDO test ranges — PXE (Proof and Experimental Establishment) and ITR. India evaluates the performances of its missiles, rockets and air-borne weapons systems at these two ranges.

“A senior employee of ITR-Chandipur has been arrested. He managed to transmit some sensitive information regarding missile tests to a foreign agent,” said Himansu Kumar Lal, the Inspector-General of Police (Eastern Range).

The official was arrested on the basis of a complaint filed at the Chandipur police station, he said.

The details of the information he shared could be ascertained after a thorough interrogation, said Balasore’s Superintendent of Police (SP) Sagarika Nath.

A case has been filed against him under IPC sections 120A and 120B (criminal conspiracy), besides the Official Secrets Act, police said.

He was allegedly sharing sensitive defence-related information with a Pakistani agent for “sexual as well as monetary gratification”, they said.

WhatsApp chats and sexually explicit photos and videos were found in his phone, which was seized, they added.

In September 2021, five contractual employees of ITR-Chandipur were arrested in another espionage case.

A contractual employee of ITR-Chandipur was arrested in a similar case in 2015. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2021 for sharing information with Pakistan’s ISI.