News Analysis India

Tag: Odisha police

  • Orissa HC notice to Centre, Odisha government in DRDO espionage case

    By PTI

    CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court issued notices to the Centre and the state government on Tuesday on a plea seeking its directions for a probe into the DRDO espionage case by a central investigating agency.

    A division bench of the High Court headed by Chief Justice S Muralidhar admitting a public interest litigation asked the two respondents – the Centre and the state government to file status reports detailing the investigations made so far into the security-related case with alleged international links.

    The bench has fixed December 7 for the next hearing.

    Advocate Arun Kumar Budhia had in his PIL said that the Odisha Police crime branch, which is now investigating the case, is not capable of probing it and will not be able to reveal the truth.

    In his plea, Budhia sought handing over the case to the National Investigation Agency or the Central Bureau of Investigation as the matter relates to national security.

    ALSO READ: DRDO espionage: Odisha Crime Branch finds Pakistan link

    In September, five employees of the Integrated Test Range of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) at Chandipur in Balasore district were arrested on the charge of having links with a foreign agent and supplying credible information to enemies.

    Odisha Police had found the involvement of a female operative, suspected to be from Pakistan, in the espionage case.

    Police had said on Saturday that it had found the involvement of another woman in the case.

  • DRDO espionage case: One of 5 accused received money from Dubai account

    By Express News Service

    BHUBANESWAR: The Crime Branch of Police probing the espionage incident in the Integrated Test Range (ITR), a unit of DRDO on Tuesday claimed to have traced the money trail between the accused and the ISI operative.

    The investigating agency has taken five accused persons, including one permanent and four contractual employees of DRDO, on a seven-day remand for interrogation.

    Crime Branch ADG Sanjeeb Panda said one of the five arrested for allegedly spying in ITR had received Rs 38,000 in two instalLments from a bank account in Dubai.

    “We are now verifying if the Dubai account has any financial transaction with the bank accounts of other accused and whether they received money or gained other benefits through other means in exchange of defence information,” he said.

    The informers, Panda said, had initially established links through Facebook messenger before exchanging information frequently through WhatsApp.

    ALSO READ | Odisha Police arrest four DRDO employees for sharing defence secrets with ‘Pakistani agents’

    “All social media accounts of the accused persons are being verified. A preliminary investigation revealed a woman operative, who had established links with them through different names from different places in the country, used a UK number to exchange information. Efforts are on to find out more details about the conduit,” he informed.

    The investigating team is also tracing the call records of the accused to ascertain the information shared with the woman operative. The mobile phones seized from them will be sent for forensic analysis.

    Apart from the Crime Branch, a team of Indian Air Force officials is also interrogating the accused persons to find out the kind of information and photos and videos shared with the Pakistani agent. They are learnt to have passed the information on the launching complex, the test of different missiles from the ITR and the outcome of the tests.

    The Crime Branch ADG, however, clarified that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) team is yet to interrogate the accused persons. A two-member NIA team had earlier visited the ITR and grilled a security officer.

    The Balasore police had earlier arrested contractual employees – Basanta Behera (52), Hemanta Kumar Mistri (52), Tapas Ranjan Nayak (41), Sk Musafir (32), all from Balasore and permanent employee Sachin Kumar Chatta of Uttar Pradesh for allegedly leaking defence secrets to Pakistani agents.

    Since Sachin, driver of a top defence scientist, hails from Meerut and Ishwar Behera arrested in a similar case six years ago had received money from an ISI handler in the Uttar Pradesh city, the probing agencies are trying to ascertain if there is any link between the two incidents.

  • Crime Branch takes over probe into Odisha forest officer’s mysterious death

    By Express News Service

    BHUBANESWAR: Director General of Police (DGP) Abhay has ordered a Crime Branch (CB) probe into the mysterious death of  Paralakhemundi Assistant Conservator of Forest (ACF) Soumya Ranjan Mohapatra (31), who had sustained burn injuries in his quarter on July 12 and succumbed at a private hospital in Cuttack a day later.

    “A case has been registered and a team led by one DSP rank officer, an inspector, and a sub-inspector have started a thorough investigation into the matter,” Crime Branch ADG Sanjeeb Panda told The New Indian Express.

    CB officers will carry out a probe at the ACF’s quarter in Paralakhemundi and they will be assisted by a six-member team consisting of physics, chemistry, fingerprints, still photography, videography, and fire service experts.

    The agency’s officers had earlier assisted Gajapati Police in the probe but now they have launched a detailed investigation of the case.

    Soumya of Balasore’s Nayakhandi village and Bidya of Mayurbhanj’s Goudagan village had tied the knot in December last year.

    Bidya reportedly wanted a divorce from Soumya and his family members have accused her of developing a bonhomie with Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Sangram Behera.

    ALSO READ | Humiliated by assault by cop, auto driver commits suicide in Odisha

    The CB officers will likely question everyone related to the matter including Bidya, Soumya’s family members, and DFO Behera in the coming days. They will also take the opinion of the doctors regarding Soumya’s post-mortem report as part of their probe, said sources.

    Gajapati Police had received the deceased’s post-mortem report from SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack last month. Soumya’s autopsy report revealed that he had sustained 95% burn injuries.

    Meanwhile, the local police suspect Soumya committed suicide by setting himself ablaze on July 12 evening.

    “After examining the spot and questioning all the concerned persons, police’s initial investigation suggests Soumya poured kerosene and after one or two minutes set himself ablaze in the drawing-room of his quarter. He then went in front of the kitchen where his wife Bidya Bharati Panda was serving food,” said an officer of Gajapati Police.

    Bidya panicked and first attempted to save her husband by dousing the blaze with her hands and she sustained minor injuries too. She ran towards the verandah of their quarter to collect water from a tap and raised an alarm following which their cook arrived from a nearby ACF’s residence.

    According to the local police, the duo attempted to save the ACF and doused the blaze by throwing water on him. He was later shifted to a hospital.

    Police had also seized one bottle of kerosene and a matchbox from the spot.