Ghaziabad police on Tuesday arrested an official of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on espionage charges. The accused, identified as Naveen Pal, was arrested for passing confidential documents to an alleged Pakistani female Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agent.
Pal worked as a multi-tasking staff (MTS) in the MEA department. According to a report by Free Press Journal, an Apple iPhone was seized from Naveen Pal.
Upon examining the phone’s photo backup, officials discovered documents related to MEA department, the ongoing G-20 summit, and some screenshots of documents all labelled as ‘secret’. Pal had shared this information through WhatsApp to a number saved as ‘Anjali Calcutta’.
A case was registered under Sections 3,5, and 9 of the Government Secrets Act of 1923 and Section 66F of the IT Act.
Initial reports suggest that Pal had come in touch with the ‘agent’ through social media around two months ago.
