Centre may hand over spy ring case to NIA

new delhi — The Centre is likely to hand over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) the probe into the busting of an alleged Pakistani espionage ring in Madhya Pradesh in which 11 people, including a ‘member’ of the BJP’s youth wing, have been arrested.

A senior official said the home ministry is contemplating handing over to the National Investigation Agency the probe into the Madhya Pradesh spy ring, which had allegedly links with Pakistan’s spy agency ISI.

“A decision will be taken very soon,” the official added.

On February 9, the Madhya Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) arrested 11 members of the espionage ring, allegedly having links with the ISI, from different parts of the state.

Among the arrested, Dhurv Saxena was allegedly a member of the IT cell of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM). However, the organisation has denied that Saxena was its member.

Those arrested were allegedly running call centres using Chinese equipment and SIM cards that helped ISI to spy on India’s military operations.

Police said the ring members were allegedly operating parallel telephone exchanges using Chinese equipment and SIM-boxes.

The ATS confiscated several SIM-boxes, prepaid SIM cards, mobile phones, laptops and data cards.