Spy racket busted by Army intelligence, Raj police; MTS worker of railways postal service arrested
Jaipur(PTI): Army intelligence and police in Rajasthan have busted a "unique" spy racket by arresting a multi-tasking staff worker of the railways postal service for passing information by clicking photographs of defence-related letters, officials said on Friday.
The worker, identified as Bharat Godara, was under surveillance of the Army's intelligence agency for some time after technical inputs suggested that some pictures were being passed to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agents across the border, they said.
According to the officials, Godara, a multi-tasking staff (MTS) worker who was posted in the sorting hub of the Railway Postal Service, used to open all letters that had the address of the Army Postal Office (APO).
This is for the first time that this kind of a spy racket has been unravelled where postal letters meant for Army personnel, both official as well as personal, were being passed on to the ISI, they said.
On Facebook messenger, he had come in contact with a woman, who claimed to be a nursing assistant posted at Port Blair in Andaman and Nicobar Island, and in the last seven months, Godara, who worked only night shifts, opened letters marked with APO address, clicked pictures and sent it to her, the officials said.
The "bond" between the two had grown stronger and they were talking on video calls through WhatsApp, they said, adding that the accused had helped her in activating the WhatsApp account with an Indian number, which she used for spying.
The officials said that sensitive information regarding locations, phone numbers of officers, pincodes of various Army units and other information was compromised by the MTS worker. He sent these to the woman, who was an agent working for the Pakistani snooping agency ISI, they said.
Godara was arrested on Thursday night in a joint operation by the Military Intelligence (Southern Command) and the state intelligence.
Godara, who has been arrested under the Officials Secrets Act, is being interrogated jointly by central and state agencies, during which he has claimed to have passed on a number of Army-related letters to Pakistan's agents.
The officials said that defence-related letters and photos have been recovered from his mobile phone.
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Allahabad HC orders probe into 'reinstatement' of teacher in UP's Barabanki
Lucknow (PTI): The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court on Friday ordered a probe by the special task force (STF) into alleged irregularities in the rejoining of a teacher at City Intermediate College in Barabanki, observing that the reinstatement appeared to be prima facie illegal.
The court also directed the recovery of the salary paid to the teacher during the disputed period.
A bench of Justice Rajeev Singh passed the order on a petition filed by the college management committee. The court expressed doubts over the roles of the District Inspector of Schools (DIOS), Barabanki, the college principal and the teacher concerned and hence, directed a detailed inquiry into the matter.
Taking note of alleged manipulation of records and misleading submissions, the court ordered the immediate transfer of the Barabanki DIOS to ensure a fair probe. It also directed the initiation of disciplinary proceedings against the then joint director of education of the Ayodhya division.
In its order, the court found that the teacher, Abhay Kumar, was initially appointed as an assistant teacher in 2018 but joined an Eklavya Model Residential School in Chhattisgarh as a lecturer in June 2024 without obtaining permission from the management. His subsequent request to retain the lien was rejected.
Despite this, he was allowed to rejoin the Barabanki College in September 2025 on the directions of the joint director of education and the DIOS, and was even paid the salary for October 2025. The court termed the rejoining "wholly illegal" and lacking any legal basis.
The bench also expressed concern over lapses in communication within the education department and directed the Uttar Pradesh chief secretary to ensure that official orders are communicated through email and WhatsApp as well, to prevent disputes.
The matter is next listed for hearing on May 28 when a compliance report is sought.
