A retired Indian Air Force officer was arrested in Assam’s Tezpur for allegedly establishing links with Pakistani intelligence operatives and sharing defence-related documents with them, The Indian Express reported on Saturday.
Kulendra Sharma retired as a junior warrant officer in 2002 and worked as a technical assistant in the department of electronics and communication engineering at Tezpur University before leaving his job three years ago.
Sonitpur’s Superintendent of Police Barun Purkayastha told The Hindu that Sharma had been under surveillance for about two weeks after they received intelligence inputs suggesting that he was in contact with Pakistani operatives.
He has been booked on charges pertaining to acts endangering the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India, waging war against the Indian government, criminal conspiracy, and causing disappearance of evidence.
Sonitpur Additional Superintendent of Police Haricharan Bhumij told The Indian Express that preliminary investigation indicated that Sharma had shared certain defence-related documents with unknown persons.
A laptop and a mobile phone were seized from Sharma and will be sent for forensic examination.
“We suspect that highly confidential information may have been shared,” The Indian Express quoted Bhumji as saying. “The investigation is ongoing to ascertain who the information was shared with and whether the documents are genuine.”
Police are also trying to ascertain if Sharma had any local associates.
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