Sleuths probe ‘spy network in Bengal’ after ‘ISI agent’ arrest

Kolkata: The National Investigation Agency (NIA), along with state and central intelligence agencies, is investigating whether a deeply entrenched local spy network exists in Bengal, following the arrest of an alleged Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) operative from the outskirts of the city.The suspect, Zafar Riaz alias Rizvi, a prominent footwear merchant from Central Kolkata's Entally neighborhood, is accused of passing military secrets to Pakistani handlers. Riaz's deep roots in Kolkata form the centre of the ongoing probe.For decades, his family was well-established in the city's traditional leather trade. Riaz himself owned and operated two shoe manufacturing factories in the Entally area. In 2005, he married Rabia, a resident of Lahore's Model Town, and lived with his wife in Entally until 2012.According to NIA findings, Riaz suffered an accident in 2012. The resulting health complications left him unable to manage his factories, triggering heavy financial distress. To liquidate his assets, Riaz sold off his ancestral Kolkata properties, sent his wife back to Lahore, and eventually travelled to Pakistan on a tourist visa to meet his in-laws.Investigators said it was during this period Riaz was recruited by the ISI via a Pakistani official named Awais. Leveraging his background as an Indian citizen with deep Kolkata roots, his handlers instructed him to make frequent trips back to India under the guise of receiving medical treatments.