Suspected ISI agent arrested in UP's Rampur
Lucknow/Rampur (UP)(PTI): An alleged agent of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was arrested in Uttar Pradesh's Rampur on Sunday by the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force.
Shahzad was apprehended by the STF Moradabad unit following inputs about his alleged involvement in cross-border smuggling and espionage activities for the ISI. The STF said Shahzad was allegedly passing sensitive information related to national security to his handlers.
He travelled to Pakistan several times over the years and was allegedly smuggling cosmetics, clothes, spices, and other items across the border, the agency alleged.
Shahzad, a resident of Tanda in Rampur, has been arrested under relevant sections, including espionage-related provisions, it said in a statement.
A 24-year-old youth, who was recently arrested in the Panipat district of Haryana for allegedly supplying sensitive information to some individuals in Pakistan, hailed from the Kairana district of Uttar Pradesh.
The suspect, Nauman Ilahi (24), also was allegedly in touch with a Pak-based ISI handler, Haryana Police sources had said on Thursday.
Ilahi, who worked as a factory security guard, was nabbed on Tuesday. He was reportedly staying with his sister and brother-in-law at Hali Colony in Panipat.
On March 13, the Uttar Pradesh ATS had arrested an employee of the Ordnance Factory at Hazratpur in the Firozabad district for allegedly sending sensitive and confidential information to a Pakistani agent, who had befriended him on Facebook.
The accused was identified as Ravindra Kumar, a chargeman at the factory.
"In the last few days, the Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) has been receiving information about handlers of a Pakistani spy agency, under pseudonyms, luring staff at the External Affairs Ministry and the Government of India, and offering them money to obtain confidential and classified information and documents, which could have posed a threat to India's internal and external security," the ATS had said in a statement.
"On a thorough probe, it was found that Ravindra Kumar, a chargeman at the ordnance factory in Hazratpur, was sending sensitive and confidential information to a Pakistani agent, who was his Facebook friend," the statement said.
The ATS squad said they found sensitive and confidential documents in Kumar's phone, which he had sent to the Pakistani agent. He could not offer a satisfactory explanation for this, they said.
"During interrogation, Kumar said he has been working in the Ordnance Factory since 2006, and as a chargeman since 2009. Around July 2024, he became friends with Neha Sharma on Facebook. He frequently chatted with her on WhatsApp, via audio and video calls," the ATS said.
"Ravindra Kumar, in the greed of becoming rich, used to send her confidential information. He also said he used to frequently delete the WhatsApp chats, but some chats and confidential documents remained in the phone," the ATS said.
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Cong performed better in Kerala, anti-incumbency trends influenced WB, TN: CM Siddaramaiah
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday said the Congress had largely met or exceeded expectations in several States, even as results in some regions reflected shifting voter sentiments.
Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, he said the party accepted the mandate in Assam while performing better than anticipated in Kerala.
He also pointed to possible anti-incumbency trends influencing outcomes in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.
“In Assam, we got the expected result, and we accept the people’s mandate. In Kerala, we have won more seats than expected. We anticipated around 76 to 80, but we have gone up to around 95,” Siddaramaiah said.
In West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, there may have been an anti-incumbency trend, and that could have influenced the results, he added.
Siddaramaiah also extended his congratulations to a new political entrant in Tamil Nadu, noting the emergence of a different electoral dynamic in the State.
“I congratulate the new entrant who has achieved success there,” he added.
Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said electoral outcomes in some States had diverged from the party’s internal assessments, reflecting evolving voter expectations.
“We expected a certain trend, but the results have been different. Political reading was wrong in some places,” he said.
“People were looking for change in some States, and that has been reflected in the results,” Shivakumar, who is also the Congress Karnataka unit president, said.
Referring to Kerala, he said the Congress-led alliance had benefited from public sentiment.
“There was already an expectation based on local body elections, and people had shown confidence in us. That has translated into a strong result,” the Deputy Chief Minister said.
On Tamil Nadu, he acknowledged that the scale of political shift had come as a surprise.
“We expected to secure around 30 to 40 per cent of the vote share, but such a major shift was not anticipated. It shows that voter expectations were different,” he said.
Shivakumar added that electoral outcomes underscored the need for better political assessment in future.
“We have to understand these changes carefully. Political reading cannot go wrong like this,” he said.
