In a recent development, Amaan Salim Shaikh, a Mumbai resident, has been formally accused by the NIA of involvement in a plot orchestrated by Pakistani intelligence agents aimed at ensnaring Indian Navy personnel through deceptive means to acquire confidential information pertaining to defense facilities. This disclosure was made through an official communique issued on Friday.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) apprehended Shaikh on November 20th of the preceding year in Mumbai. Subsequently, the counterterrorism entity lodged a supplementary indictment on Thursday before a designated NIA court situated in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. Shaikh stands accused under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, as stated in the communication.
Shaikh’s complicity was unraveled in the activation of SIM cards utilized by operatives of Pakistani intelligence implicated in the aforementioned scheme. This illicit operation came to light following the registration of a case by the counterintelligence unit in Vijayawada on January 12, 2021, as per NIA’s findings.
Upon assuming jurisdiction over the matter on June 5th of the antecedent year, the NIA ascertained during its probe that Shaikh was collaborating with a suspected Pakistani agent, identified as Usman, in furtherance of the anti-India machination.
Furthermore, Shaikh was found to be the recipient of funds from other suspected Pakistani affiliates, namely Meer Balaj Khan, Alven, and sundry individuals, facilitated through cryptocurrency channels in exchange for executing tasks mandated by Pakistani intelligence operatives, according to the statement.
Both Khan and Alven, nationals of Pakistan, remain at large. Additionally, on November 6th of the previous year, the NIA filed a supplementary indictment against two other individuals—Manmohan Surendra Panda and Alven. Panda had been previously apprehended in connection to a case involving the unauthorized disclosure of classified defense intelligence to operatives affiliated with the Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency.