MEERUT/LUCKNOW: A Moscow-based
Indian embassy staffer
visiting his native Hapur for a wedding in the family was arrested by UP's
Anti-Terror Squad
(ATS) on Sunday on charges of spying for
Pakistan's ISI
.
Satendra Siwal (27), whom MEA deputed to the Russian capital as a security assistant in 2021, confessed to his involvement in "anti-India activities" during his interrogation in Meerut after being detained the previous evening, ATS officials said. He was remanded in judicial custody for 14 days.
Siwal's arrest was based on an anonymous tip-off received by ATS. "ISI handlers have been trying to lure MEA employees with money and extract classified information, including about Indian military installations. Siwal is one of them," ADGP (ATS) Mohit Agarwal said.
After verifying the information through technical and physical surveillance, Siwal was taken for questioning to ATS's field unit in Meerut, where he revealed having passed security-sensitive information to his Pakistani handlers.
Agarwal said a case under Section 121A (conspiracy against the state) and the Official Secrets Act, 1923, was registered against the embassy staffer in Lucknow. ATS is scanning his bank accounts and mobile phone to gather more details about his associates.
At Shahmahiuddinpur village in Hapur Dehat, Siwal's aunt Babita Rani said she came to know about her nephew's arrest when a police team knocked on the family's door early Sunday. "He arrived home from Moscow on Jan 28 to attend his cousin's wedding," she told TOI.
Siwal is the second of four siblings. His two sisters are married, while his younger brother is preparing for the civil services exam.
"We couldn't have imagined the boy would be charged with spying, of all things. He has always come across as a generous and gentle person. So is his family," said Anguri Devi (80), a resident of the village.
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