Two more accused sentenced by NIA Special court in Vishakhapatnam spying case

New Delhi [India], December 15 (ANI): Two more accused were on Monday sentenced to imprisonment by a National Investigation Agency (NIA) special court in the Pakistan-linked Visakhapatnam Navy spying case, an official release said.

This brings the total number of convictions in the case to 10. The trial is ongoing against the remaining five accused arrested by the NIA in RC-05/2019/NIA/HYD.

The two accused convicted today are Somnath Sanjay Ikade of Ahmednagar District, Maharashtra, and Sonu Kumar of Hathras District, Uttar Pradesh. They were arrested in December 2019 in Karwar (Karnataka) and Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), respectively, the release stated.

Each of them has been sentenced to Simple Imprisonment (SI) of 5 years, 11 months, and 15 days under sections 18 of the UA(P) Act and 3 of the Official Secrets Act. The Special Court at Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) has also imposed a fine of Rs. 5,000 each on the duo, who will have to undergo an additional 1-year SI in case of default in payment of the fine, as per the release.

The case, which NIA took over from the Counter-Intelligence Police Station, Intelligence Department, Vijayawada (Andhra Pradesh Police), in December 2019, concerns espionage at vital installations and Indian Navy establishments by foreign spies/agents. In June 2020, NIA had chargesheeted 14 accused persons, followed by a supplementary chargesheet against one more accused person in March 2021, the release stated.

Investigations are continuing as part of NIA's efforts to expose the full conspiracy behind the espionage that was intended to disrupt India's unity, integrity, security and sovereignty. (ANI)