Dubai money trail found in ITR espionage case: Odisha crime branch

We will conduct more investigation in this connection, Panda said.The ITR is a laboratory of the Defence Research Development Organisation DRDO which provides launch facilities for performance evaluation of rockets, missiles, and air-borne weapon system. However, the NIA team has not interrogated the accused persons after they were taken on remand by the crime branch, an official said.

The espionage case at the DRDO’s ITR facility in Chandipur took a fresh turn on Tuesday with the crime branch of Odisha Police finding money trail from Dubai and the role of a woman operative, a top police officer said. The police had nabbed five employees of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) in Balasore district on September 14 and 16 for allegedly passing vital information from the DRDO establishment to a Pakistani spy in lieu of money. A court on Saturday had remanded the five accused to seven days in the custody of the crime branch of the Odisha Police. Additional Director General (ADG), Crime Branch, Sanjeeb Panda said here, “The investigation so far revealed that one of the five accused persons has received cash transfer of Rs 38,000 in two instalments from a bank account in Dubai. We are verifying the financial transactions of the other four persons,” Panda said.

Details of property of all the five accused and their family members are also being verified, Panda said.

Pointing out that the crime branch has seized the mobile phones of all the accused persons, Panda said cyber cell experts are scanning the social media handles and phones of the accused and their chats with the agents. The telephones and laptops of the accused persons were being sent to a cyber forensic laboratory, the ADG said. “We came to know during the investigation that a woman operative, who used to contact the accused persons in different names from different places, was using a mobile phone with a SIM of the United Kingdom,” the ADG said.

The official also revealed that the woman used to chat with the five accused through Facebook messenger, Instagram, and Whatsapp. “We will conduct more investigation in this connection,” Panda said.

The ITR is a laboratory of the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) which provides launch facilities for performance evaluation of rockets, missiles, and air-borne weapon system. Meanwhile, a team of officials from the Indian Air Force base in West Bengal has interrogated the accused persons during their remand period in Cuttack. The Odisha Police on September 14 had arrested four contractual employees of the ITR, Chandipur, and another regular employee of the organisation on September 16 based on a tip-off given by the Army intelligence wing.

Earlier, a team of the National Investigating Agency (NIA) had also reached Balasore and discussed the issue with some security personnel at ITR, Chandipur. However, the NIA team has not interrogated the accused persons after they were taken on remand by the crime branch, an official said.