A special squad of the Balasore Police on Tuesday picked up five contractual employees at the Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) in Chandipur for questioning over espionage charges.
According to sources, the special squad, led by the Eastern Range IG, detained the five staff from the main gate of the DRDO’s integrated test range (ITR) for allegedly passing on vital information about the high-security defence installation to some ‘foreign agents’ over telephone and other means.
Sources said that the five staff was deployed in manual operational works at the defence installation for quite some time.
It may be recalled that earlier a photographer engaged at the ITR on a contract basis had been arrested for passing on information to Pakistan’s Inter-services Intelligence (ISI). Ishwar Begera, the Photographer is presently serving a life term following conviction in the case.
Odisha Police DG Abhay is likely to brief media at 3:30 pm in connection with the sensitive detection.
(This is a developing story.)