2 More Accused Get Imprisonment in Visakhapatnam Navy Espionage Case
The accused, identified as Ashok Kumar of Jhunjhunu district and Vikas Kumar of Alwar district of Rajasthan, will have to undergo SI of five years and 11 months under each of section 18 of UA(P) Act and section 3 of Official Secrets Act
New Delhi: A National Investigation Agency (NIA) special court has sentenced two more accused in the Pakistan-linked Visakhapatnam Navy espionage case to Simple Imprisonment (SI), along with fine.
The accused, identified as Ashok Kumar of Jhunjhunu district and Vikas Kumar of Alwar district of Rajasthan, will have to undergo SI of five years and 11 months under each of section 18 of UA(P) Act and section 3 of Official Secrets Act.
They also face an additional SI of one year in the event of default of payment of Rs 5,000 fine, imposed by the NIA Special Court at Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh).
With this, NIA has successfully secured the conviction of eight of the 15 accused arrested in the case till date. Ashok and Vikas were arrested in December 2019 from Mumbai in Maharashtra and Karwar in Karnataka respectively.
The NIA had, in June 2020, chargesheeted 14 accused persons, and subsequently filed a supplementary chargesheet against one more accused person in March 2021.
A total of 15 accused persons had been arrested, of whom eight have so far been convicted and sentenced, in the case. Trial against other accused in the case RC-05/2019/NIA/HYD is still in progress. The NIA had taken over the case, relating to spying at vital installations and Indian Navy establishments by foreign spies and agents, from the Counter Intelligence Police Station, Intelligence Department, Vijayawada (Andhra Pradesh Police) in December 2019.
The NIA is continuing with its investigation to unveil the complete conspiracy behind the espionage, which was aimed at disturbing India’s unity, integrity, security and sovereignty.
