Ahmedabad (PTI): The Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) on Friday arrested a labourer for allegedly sharing sensitive information regarding the movement of Indian Coast Guard (ICG) ships with a Pakistani agent, said a police official.

Dipesh Gohel, who worked as a welder-cum-labourer at Okha jetty in the coastal Devbhumi Dwarka district, shared sensitive information about ICG ships coming to the jetty with a Pakistan-based woman for a payment of Rs 200 per day, said Superintendent of Police (ATS) K Siddharth.

He has been arrested on charges of criminal conspiracy and waging war against the government under sections 61 and 147 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the SP told reporters.

The ATS had been keeping a close watch on Gohel after receiving a tip-off that the labourer was in touch with an agent of Pakistan's spy agency ISI or an Army officer. Technical surveillance mounted after the tip-off established that phone calls and messages to Gohel emanated from Pakistan, he said.

"For the past three years, Gohel has been employed by a contractor who repairs Coast Guard vessels at Okha jetty. Gohel came in contact with a woman named Sahima on Facebook nearly seven months ago. The woman then started talking to him on WhatsApp," informed Siddharth.

The woman, who told Gohel that she works for the Pakistan Navy, offered to pay Rs 200 per day if he shares names and numbers of Coast Guard ships arriving at the jetty and their movement, said the police officer.

"Despite knowing that it was illegal, Gohel agreed and started sharing such sensitive information," said the SP.

Since Gohel does not have a bank account of his own, he gave account details of three of his friends. They all received Rs 42,000 in total through UPI during the last seven months from the woman. Gohel used to take cash from his friends against those deposits, said the IPS officer.

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Pune, Dec 9: Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray on Monday alleged that injustice was being meted out to Marathi-speaking people in Belagavi in Karnataka, demanding that the region be declared a Union Territory.

Talking to reporters in Mumbai, Thackeray said while celebrations are underway over the formation of the new government in Maharashtra, the situation was deteriorating in Belagavi in the neighbouring state.

As the winter session of the Karnataka assembly begins on Monday, members of the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti are opposing it. The outfit organised a congregation in Belagavi, but the Karnataka government allegedly prohibited the gathering and banned leaders from Maharashtra from entering the state.

"Marathi-speaking people in Belagavi are being suppressed. Since yesterday, the situation has been deteriorating in the region. Our party workers are being detained. The previous 'unconstitutional' chief minister had promised that they would give extra funds to the Marathi-speaking people living in the disputed territory. What happened to that assurance?" the MLA asked.

He questioned whether the BJP-led government in the Centre was willing to declare Belgavi as a Union Territory.

"Our demand was and is that Belagavi should be declared a Union Territory," he added.