BSF employee, who was held on espionage charge, granted 10-day judicial custody

An employee attached to a department at BSF's 59 Batallion headquarters in Gujarat's Kutch region was arrested by the ATS on Saturday. Accused Nilesh Baliya was transmitting vital information to a Pakistani woman spy Aditi Tiwari.

Kutch (Gujarat): A Class IV employee attached to the BSF's 59 Battalion in Gujarat's Kutch region was arrested on Saturday for leaking secret information to a Pakistan woman spy for the past five years. The accused Nilesh Baliya was working as a peon in the CPWD department of the BSF's 59 Battalion stationed at Kutch. He was arrested by the Gujarat ATS.

The accused was produced before the Bhuj court on Saturday. A 14-day remand was sought by the Gujarat ATS. The court granted 10 days remand of the accused. According to a preliminary investigation, accused Nilesh fell into a honeytrap and passed on classified information to a Pakistani woman spy. He came in contact with a woman named Aditi Tiwari online. He passed on vital information related to national security to her. In return, the accused was paid money by the Pakistani spy.

The Gujarat ATS had information that Nilesh working at the BSF Headquarters office in Bhuj was sharing secret information to the Pakistani agent through WhatsApp. The accused transmitted the ongoing and new construction at BSF Headquarters in the region to the Pakistani agent. The ATS team while conducting technical and forensic investigation learnt that the accused came in contact with the Pakistani spy in January 2023.

Nilesh had told Aditi that he was working as a computer operator at the BSF's 59 Batallion. The Pakistani agent then asked him to share information through WhatsApp for which he will be paid money. In lieu of sharing vital information, accused Nilesh had received Rs 28,800 in his account through UPI. The ATS sent the cell phone seized from the accused for forensic and technical analysis. The forensic and technical probe findings revealed that Nilesh had shared sensitive and classified information through WhatsApp calls and messages with the Pakistani female agent.

Gujarat ATS SP Sunil Joshi said that the accused was arrested from Kutch and his mobile phone was sent to a forensic science lab for examination. Preliminary investigation revealed the accused's was passing vital information to the Pakistani agent. He had received Rs 28,800 through UPI for doing the job.