Serving Army soldier arrested in Uri for espionage

Srinagar, Jul 17: Punjab Police’s State Special Operation Cell (SSOC) with assistance of Jammu & Kashmir Police has arrested a serving Army Uri Sector of Baramulla In espionage case.

The soldier has been arrested in an ongoing espionage investigation being carried out by the Punjab Police’s State Special Operation Cell (SSOC). Police said that a soldier by SSOC of Punjab Police was arrested on charges of leaking classified military information to Pakistan.

The soldier, identified as Devinder Singh, hails from Nihalgarh village in Sangrur district of Punjab. He was arrested from Uri in Baramulla district, where he was posted in an Army battalion. “ We assisted Punjab Police,” a senior officer from north Kashmir told Greater kashmir. “After legal formalities he was handed over to them.”

Reports said that Singh’s arrest is the latest breakthrough in a broader investigation into an espionage racket involving current and former Army personnel. His role, they said, came to light during the interrogation of Gurpreet Singh, a former Indian Army soldier, who was arrested earlier on similar charges.

Gurpreet Singh, also known by aliases “Guri” or “Fauji”, was taken into custody while he was lodged in Ferozepur Jail. Investigators allege that despite being in prison, Gurpreet maintained contacts with operatives across the border and was instrumental in transmitting sensitive Army documents to Pakistan.

During questioning, they said, Gurpreet revealed that Devinder Singh had assisted in gathering material. The two had met in 2017 during Army training at a camp and maintained contact over the years. They were later posted together in Sikkim and Jammu and Kashmir.

This is not the first time the Punjab Police have cracked down on espionage activities linked to Pakistan. Over the past few years, there have been multiple arrests involving Indian nationals accused of spying, particularly in border states like Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir, where military deployments are significant.