Indian Embassy employee at Moscow has been arrested on Sunday, February 4, by UP’s Anti Terrorism Squad for leaking classified information to Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
The latter has a history of conducting espionage activities on India and inciting separatist agendas like that of the Khalistani movement. The accused, Satendra Siwal, hails from Hapur district of Uttar Pradesh and and is employed as a multi-tasking staff (MTS) at the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
Siwal was arrested from Lucknow on Sunday following an interrogation on Saturday which reportedly elicited “unsatisfactory” responses from the former, eventually prompting a confession.
The ATS was notified about potential embassy employees who were conspiring with ISI in exchange for money. The accused arrived in India on leave. on January 27 following which he was summoned to the Meerut field unit of the special unit of the Uttar Pradesh police force.
With the help of electronic and physical surveillance, ATS was able to intercept the Indian embassy official’s anti-national activities which included divulging “confidential information regarding the strategic activities of the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of External Affairs and the Indian military establishment”.
Siwal has been booked under Section 121A of the Indian Penal Code (waging war against the Government of India) and under the Official Secrets Act, 1923.
As per Scroll India, police have “seized two mobile phones, an Aadhaar card, a PAN card and cash”.
UP Police took to their social media handle on X (formerly Twitter) to confirm the news and further acknowledge the efforts of the ATS.
MEA Addresses Indian Embassy Employee Debacle
According to The Print, the Ministry of External Affairs has addressed the matter, further confirming that Siwal was indeed appointed as a Security Assistant at the Indian Embassy in Moscow.
MEA is currently working in association with the investigative authorities to resolve the matter.
A similar incident had rocked the nation in October of last year when Gujarat resident Labhshankar Maheshwari, a Pakistani man who had been granted Indian citizenship in 2005, was arrested by ATS “for spying on Indian Defence Personnel via Whatsapp”, as per WION. He was charged under section 123 (concealing the existence of a design to wage war against the Government of India), section 121A and under sections of the Information Technology Act.
