Mangalore chapter of Youth Against Corruption inaugurated

New Delhi, Jun 8: Two civil defence employees have been arrested by the Rajasthan Police today in Jaipur based on Military Intelligence (MI) inputs that they had been passing on sensitive information to Pakistan's spy agency ISI.

The arrested are: Vikas Kumar (29), a civil defence employee at an army ammunition depot near Shri Ganganagar (Rajasthan) and Chiman Lal (22), a civil contractual employee of the army's Mahajan Field Firing Range (MFFR), Bikaner. 

Both were working as espionage agents on behalf of Pakistan's intelligence agency and were giving out details of Ammunition and MFFR, vital military installations in India's Western front. 

The MI Lucknow's operation named Desert Chase assumes great importance as the Shri Ganganagar Ammunition Depot and Bikaner MMFR are strategically important military installations on the western front along the Pakistan border.

The work on the "operation" began in August 2019, when the MI Lucknow, through its sleuths, learnt about an espionage agent near Sri Ganganagar who was passing military information to his handlers in Pakistan. The individual was identified as Vikas Kumar - the civil defence employee at an army ammunition depot near Sri Ganganagar.

The MI Lucknow shared the case with UP ATS in the month of January 2020. Vikas's activities were monitored and analysed by a joint team of MI Lucknow and UP ATS. The operation was code-named 'Desert Chase'.

Based on these, it was learnt that Vikas is acquiring photos of a "water distribution register" at a water point/pump house in MFFR through a contractual civil employee named Chiman Lal. The development of the case was halted due to the start of the lockdown period all across the country.

Finally, the case shared with Rajasthan Police Intelligence in the first week of May 2020. A joint team was formed between Rajasthan Police-Intelligence and MI Lucknow.

Fresh leads were found as new payments were detected along with a trail of sensitive information being passed on to Pakistan by two accused.  

Vikas Kumar confessed to having passed the following information to Pakistan:

•    Details received from Chiman Lal about Army units and their strength coming to MFFR.
•    Details of ammunition coming to his ammunition depot including their type, quantity, mode of transportation, date of arrival on a routine basis (almost every time it came to his notice).
•    Details of ammunition (to include their type, quantity and mode/date of transportation) further distributed/transferred to local army establishments/units (including two local brigades) and elsewhere from his ammunition depot.
•    ORBAT (Order of battle; composition related details) of two local army brigades and all changes in them as they came to his notice.
•    Name, rank and personality traits of some Senior Military Officers in the two army brigades nearby, his ammunition depot and others who visited the military station.
•    Photos of arms, ammunition, tanks other military vehicles (with their tactical numbers) at MFFR whenever he could visit it after April 2019.

Vikas also confessed to having received at least Rs 75,000 in total from his Pakistani handler for the information he has shared during this entire period. He used to receive them mostly on bank accounts of his and his brother, Hemant Kumar. The latter was found to have no links to the espionage case otherwise. Out of this sum, he had paid approximately Rs 9,000 in total to Chiman Lal for his assistance in lots of Rs 1000- Rs 2000 since their first meet.

Bengaluru, May 11: Ten new positive cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Karnataka, taking the total number of infections in the state to 858, the Health department said on Monday.

"Ten new positive cases have been reported from last evening to this noon... Till date 858 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed. This includes 31 deaths and 422 discharges," the department said in its mid-day situation update. 

The ten new cases include- three from Davangere, two each from Bidar and Bagalkote, one each from Kalaburagi, Shiggavi in Haveri and Vijayapura. Seven cases are men, three are women.

While most cases are contacts of patients already tested positive, one each are with travel history to Mumbai and Ahmedabad.

One person's contact tracing is underway. 

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 11: In a unique form of protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), a bridegroom in Kerala, Haja Hussain, came for his wedding ceremony riding on a camel holding an anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) poster in his hands, on the outskirts of the capital city on Monday.

Accompanied by a large crowd mostly comprising his friends and relatives, Hussain carried a placard which read "Reject CAA, Boycott NRC and NPR" as he arrived at the wedding hall in Vazhimukku, about 20 km from Thiruvananthapuram, on a camel back.

Haja Hussain said that he chose to do this to express his protest against the CAA.

"Along with the ' mahr' (the custom where the groom hands over gold or money to the bride), I also gave a copy of the Constitution. CAA should be rejected," said Haja Hussain, who is a local businessman.