Espionage Case: Arrested MP’s PA says ‘it’s a vicious trap with no way out’

Two days after the Delhi Police Crime Branch arrested Farhat, the personal aide of the Samajwadi Party MP Munawwar Saleem from the latter’s residence in Delhi, investigators said: “Farhat disclosed that the operatives trapped him and many others like him in such a way that they were left with no other option but to continue with the activities (of providing confidential information). It is a vicious circle. Once we fell into the trap of giving information, there was no way out.”

“ Right from threatening to leak our objectionable videos or pictures online to leaking about the illegal activities undertaken by us to the higher authorities. We were manipulated into fulfilling their demands of providing the documents,” said a senior investigator quoting Farhat.

Apart from this, Farhat also shared that he was the chief of the Waqf Board in his village in Kairana and also a member of the Zila Parishad Panchayat of his village in UP.

During questioning, Farhat had disclosed that he had been spying for the Pakistan Intelligence Operative for the past 20 years, said police. Although he started working as the PA to Saleem a year back, he was approached by Shoaib, one of the accused in the Pakistan espionage case, arrested earlier on October 28.

Police said that since Farhat was the PA to the Samajwadi Party MP, Farhat was easily able to obtain documents pertaining to military budget and Parliamentary standing committee.

Talking about Shoaib, one of the accused held by the Crime Branch sleuths, the investigator shared that there is a strong possibility of the involvement of Shoaib’s father. “So far, we were probing Shoaib’s role. Now we are also looking at the role of Shoaib’s father and brothers.”

Meanwhile, a team of the Crime Branch sleuths has been sent to Naguar and Jodhpur to further investigate the revelations made by the accused.