New Delhi: Special cell arrested senior journalist in official secret act

Delhi police have arrested Freelance journalist Rajeev Sharma under the Official Secrets Act for passing sensitive information to Chinese intelligence. A Chinese woman & her Nepalese associate are also arrested for paying him large amounts of money routed through shell companies.

New Delhi:The Delhi Police on Saturday said it has arrested a Chinese woman and her Nepalese associate and claimed that they were paying huge amounts of money to freelance journalist Rajeev Sharma for allegedly passing sensitive information to "Chinese intelligence".

"Special Cell has arrested a freelance journalist, Rajeev Sharma, for passing sensitive information to Chinese intelligence.

One Chinese lady and her Nepalese associate have also been arrested for paying him large amounts of money routed through shell companies. Chinese intelligence tasked the journalist for conveying sensitive information in lieu of large amounts of money,'' the police said.

"A huge number of mobile phones, laptops and other incriminating/sensitive material has been recovered," police added. Sharma, a resident of Pitampura, has been arrested by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police.

At a press conference, Special Cell DCP Sanjeev Kumar Yadav said Sharma was writing on defence-related issues for some Indian media organisations, as well as China's Global Times.

He was contacted by Chinese Intelligence agents in 2016. Sharma was also in contact with some Chinese intelligence officer, the police officer said, adding the freelance journalist got Rs 40 lakh in one-and-a-half years and he was getting USD 1,000 for each information.

Sharma was arrested September 14 based on inputs from central intelligence. Police have seized classified defence documents from him, the DCP said.

He said that a Chinese woman and her Nepalese associate have also been arrested for allegedly paying Sharma large amounts of money routed through shell companies.

(PTI REPORT)