HC denies bail to man accused of supplying documents to ISI

Delhi High Court has refused to grant bail to one of the five accused arrested for allegedly supplying sensitive documents to ISI operatives of Pakistan, saying allegations against him were “very serious in nature”.

Justice P S Teji denied relief at this stage to accused Fareed Khan, an army hawaldar who allegedly shared secret information with other co-accused who used to forward them to Pakistan based intelligence operatives for monetary gains.

“In light of the facts and circumstances, this court is of the view that the allegations against the petitioner are very serious in nature, he is involved with other co-accused in supplying the information relating to Indian national security to Pakistani intelligence agency ISI.

“In the kind of cases in which petitioner’s involvement is disclosed by the main accused and recovery of documents from the petitioner, in the considered opinion of this court the submission of Additional Public Prosecutor ... regarding misuse of liberty of bail either by fleeing from justice or by tampering with evidence or by indulging again in anti-national activities, cannot be ruled out at this stage, especially when the trial is at an initial stage,” the court said.

It said after careful scrutiny of the case and examining the contents of the petition and the FIR, “this court observes that the name of the petitioner is disclosed by the main accused Kaifaitullah Khan, who was the ISI Agent.”  All the five accused were arrested in connection with alleged supply of secret Indian documents to an operative of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).