Uttar Pradesh: ATS arrests Moscow Indian embassy staffer charged with spying for ISI

The Uttar Pradesh anti-terrorist squad (ATS) on Sunday arrested a man in Hapur for reportedly sharing classified information with the Pakistan-based Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

The man identified as Satendra Siwal (27), is a resident of Shahmahiuddinpur village in Hapur and was posted as a multi-tasking staff member at the Indian Embassy in Moscow, said ATS additional director-general Mohit Agarwal.

Siwal allegedly spied for the ISI and passed on vital information regarding the strategic activities of the ministry of defence, the ministry of external affairs and the Indian military establishment to his handlers across the border. "He was under surveillance for the past six months and was arrested upon his return to Hapur after taking leave from the embassy in Moscow," Agarwal said.

The ATS chief added that Siwal had been working at the Indian Embassy in Moscow since 2021 as an India-based security assistant (IBSA).

Agarwal added that Siwal is accused of sharing classified information related to the Army establishment and documents pertaining to the embassy's foreign office. "We are scanning his bank accounts and have seized his mobile phone to gather more details about his associates," the ATS chief said.

Siwal, who was called by the ATS Meerut field unit and interrogated as per the rules, could not give satisfactory answers and confessed to his crime during the interrogation, an official ATS statement said.

An FIR has been registered against Siwal at ATS police station, Lucknow, under section 121A of the IPC (waging war against the country) and the Official Secrets Act 1923, the statement said.