New Delhi: A Delhi court has sentenced an
army jawan to seven years in jail for doubling as a Pakistan
intelligence agent and supplying sensitive defence-related
information to the neighbouring country.
District and Additional Sessions Judge O P Gupta jailed
Anil Kumar Dubey, 39, convicting him under Section 3 of the
Official Secrets Act for passing on secret information to
Pakistan about the movement and deployment of army troops in
India.
According to the prosecution, the Special Cell of Delhi
Police had arrested Dubey from his home at Mahipalpur on
October 20, 2006 on a tip-off that an alleged Pakistan High
Commission employee would be visiting him to procure some
sensitive information.
Police had caught Dubey while he was handing over a bag,
containing some CDs and other documents, including some
notifications pertaining to army`s anti-insurgency operations,
to the alleged Pakistan High Commission employee, Mohd Farooq.
Raids at Dubey`s house led to recovery of three cheque
books, two of which belonged to Farooq and one to Shamshad
Hussain, another alleged Pakistan Embassy official.
Police in its search of Dubey`s desk at Army Group
Insurance Bhawan also recovered documents pertaining to new
dialling system and AGI journal of the year 2005, the
prosecution said.
As Farooq enjoyed diplomatic immunity, he was handed over
to Pakistan High Commission through Ministry of External
Affairs, while Dubey was arrested, it said. Dubey, in his defence, contended he was falsely implicated to "settle scores with Pakistan and that he had been made a scapegoat".
The court, however, said he failed to disclose any motive
as to why police would implicate him and that "simply
suggesting that he was made scapegoat is not enough."
It also rejected his contention that the prosecution had
failed to show any heavy bank transaction for the secret
information that he had been passing.
"It is a matter of common knowledge that most of the
offences are committed in the darkness of night and under the
table. A culprit would not deposit the amount received by him
as illegal gratification in his bank account," the court said.
"Recovery of cheque book of Mohd Farooq from house of
accused shows that accused had some links with him. The same
strengthens the case of prosecution that the two indulged in
passing of some secret information," the judge said.
On Dubey`s submission that the papers alleged to be
passed on to Farooq in 2006 were of 2003 and were outdated
from the angle of espionage, the court said, "The documents
may be old for one and new for other. It depends upon the
degree of progress with which two countries are proceeding.
"The dialling system adopted in 2003 in India may be
unknown to Pakistan till 2006. Question is as to what
justification the accused had to supply the said information?"
the judge pointed.
PTI
