CB to seek remand of ITR lensman for 4 more days

Cuttack/Balasore: The Crime Branch (CB) of Odisha Police took Ishwar Chandra Behera, accused of spying for Pakistani military spy agency Inter-Services intelligence (ISI), to Balasore for producing him in court there as his remand period ended today. The probe agency will pray the court for four more days’ remand of the accused, ADG B.K. Sharma said.

Behera was remanded to CB custody for six days for interrogation and he was quizzed at the CB headquarters in Cuttack, Sharma added.

The agency took over the charge of investigation of the case on the orders of DGP Sanjiv Marik on January 27. The sub-divisional judicial magistrate (SDJM) court in Balasore had allowed police to take the 35-year-old contractual cameraman on remand for further investigation.

Police had sought 14-day remand of the accused who was arrested by Balasore police on January 23 after being put under surveillance for months following an intelligence tip-off about his suspicious activities. He was charged under Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 121-A (treason) of IPC and several provisions of Official Secrets Act.