Army jawaan held for spying

The rural police have arrested another army jawaan for allegedly leaking confidential information to Pakistan-based intelligence agencies. The accused, identified as Sandeep Singh from Sardoolgarh, is currently stationed at the Nasik Army camp. He was arrested in Patiala while on leave.

This marks the second arrest in the past three days. Earlier, the police apprehended Amritpal Singh from Chamba Kalan village in Chohla Sahib, Tarn Taran. Amritpal was reportedly part of a syndicate involved in espionage and cross-border drug smuggling. The police have also booked another army jawan, Rajbir Singh, in the same case and teams have been dispatched to arrest him.

Sandeep Singh’s arrest followed the interrogation of Amritpal Singh. The police seized three mobile phones from Sandeep, which have been sent for forensic examination to determine the extent of the information he shared with the agencies.

Authorities say Sandeep Singh provided vital details such as Army movements, ammunition information and locations of various army units to Pakistan’s ISI. The espionage racket is believed to have been operating for the past two years.

In addition to Amritpal, the police had earlier arrested Mandeep Singh alias Maddy and Madhav Sharma of Rajasthan. The police seized 500g of heroin, Rs 10 lakh in drug money, a cash counting machine and a .30 bore pistol from their possession. The car they were travelling in was also impounded.

SSP (Amritsar Rural) Charanjit Singh Sohal said the army authorities have been notified about the involvement of Amritpal, Sandeep Singh and Rajbir in transferring sensitive information to Pakistan’s ISI and their role in cross-border drug smuggling. He said Sandeep Singh would be produced in court and brought on police remand for further investigation.