Gujarat man sentenced to 5 years for espionage linked to Pakistan intelligence

LUCKNOW: An NIA Special Court in Lucknow convicted and sentenced to five years imprisonment a Gujarat native in a Pakistan-operated espionage case on Wednesday.

The convict Anas Yaqub Giteli (25) has been sentenced to varying sentences, with a maximum jail term of five years, along with fine under different sections of 123 (wage war against India), 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 201 (destroy evidence) and charges of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

Anas Yaqub Giteli, a resident of Gujarat was arrested along with one Saurabh Sharma, formerly a signalman in the Indian Army on January 8, 2021 by UP ATS.

NIA had taken over from ATS, UP, and re-registered the case on February 5, 2021. The anti-terror agency had subsequently charge sheeted the two accused under relevant sections. Saurabh Sharma was convicted by the same court on Aug 28, 2024.

Special Public Prosecutor of the NIA, MK Singh, argued that co-accused Saurabh Sharma conspired to share confidential information and restricted documents of the Indian Army with Pakistani intelligence agency (ISI) agent using the alias Neha Sharma. In exchange, money was deposited into the accounts of Saurabh Sharma and his wife Pooja Singh.

“The accused, Anas Yaqub, was involved in the conspiracy by transferring Rs 4,000 into the account of co-accused Pooja Singh, a transaction for which a screenshot was sent to Neha Sharma, who then forwarded it to Saurabh Sharma. In a related transaction, Imran, Anas Yaqub’s brother, transferred Rs 5,000 on June 3, 2019, from his account to Saurabh Sharma’s account,” said Singh.

Defence Counsel, Aziz Khan, said that they appeal against the conviction in a higher court.

As per investigations, Saurabh Sharma, formerly a signalman in the Indian Army, was lured into the spying racket by a pseudonymous entity operated by Defence/ISI agents of Pakistan. He had shared restricted and confidential secret information about the Indian Army with this pseudo entity, Neha Sharma

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