It was the second arrest of a person from Gonda’s Tarabganj for anti-India activities in the last 16 days

The Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) on Sunday arrested a 26-year-old man in Lucknow on the charges of espionage and working for Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), it said.

A police official said Raees has been booked under Indian Penal Code sections 121-A (conspiracy to wage or attempt to wage war against India) and 123 (concealing facts with intent to facilitate design to wage war). Charges under section 3/5/9 of the Officials Secrets Act, 1923 were also slapped on Raees.

In an official note, the ATS said the suspect Mohd Raees, who hails from Deenpurwa village in Gonda district, had, over the past year, allegedly sent several crucial pieces of information concerning India’s military and security installations to his handler in Pakistan through an instant messaging app.

ATS additional director general (ADG) Naveen Arora stated that the suspect had previously worked at a private firm in Mumbai where he came in touch with one Arman, who convinced him to work for Pakistan’s intelligence agency. His Pakistani handler contacted Raees through WhatsApp in early 2022, Arora said.

The ADG added that Raees came across one Hussain through his handler. Hussain directed him on the kind of information that needed to be passed on to the handler, Arora said, adding the suspect was promised money and a job in the Gulf in return for helping the ISI.

“The Pakistani handler also gave him a Bangladeshi number and asked him to create a WhatsApp business account using the same number. He also shared an OTP required for creating the account and started interacting regularly through the same channel,” he explained. “Hussain is also an ISI agent. Raees later roped in his friend Salman and a few others to spy for Pakistan.”

Arora said Raees has been booked under Indian Penal Code sections 121-A (conspiracy to wage or attempt to wage war against India) and 123 (concealing facts with intent to facilitate design to wage war). Charges under section 3/5/9 of the Officials Secrets Act, 1923 were also slapped on Raees.

The official said security agencies were now working to trace Arman, Salman and other suspects of spying for the Pakistani intelligence community.

Raees’ was the second arrest of a person from Gonda’s Tarabganj for anti-India activities in the last 16 days. Terror suspect Saddam Sheikh, 38, who was arrested by the ATS on July 1, hails from Basedi village under Tarabganj police station limits of Gonda.

Sheikh was born a Hindu and his original name was Ranjit Singh, but he embraced Islam at the age of 15 after fleeing from his house and meeting a Muslim family in Mumbai, the ATS found out. He is in the custody of the ATS after a local court allowed that he be remanded to 14 days of police custody.