By IANS,
Hyderabad : A city court Thursday sentenced to life imprisonment a Pakistani national for passing on vital Indian defence secrets to Pakistan and for criminal conspiracy.
Malik Arshad Mahmood, 44, was found guilty under sections 3 and 4 of the Official Secrets Act, section 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, and section 14 of the Foreigners Act.
However, First Additional Metropolitan Sessions judge L. Srirama Murthy, who passed the life sentence on Malik, acquitted his Indian accomplice for want of evidence.
The Pakistani national had been arrested by the police here in 2004 when he was sending the photographs of vital defence establishments to his handlers in Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) on the internet.
Malik, who had entered India on a fake passport through Bangladesh, was arrested by police on March 9, 2004, from King Kothi area here. A computer and some documents were also seized from him.
Police also arrested Malik’s local accomplice Milind Dattatreya who was arranging funds through illegal hawala channels. During investigations, police also found that four Pakistanis and one Bangladeshi were also helping him but they could not be arrested.
Police had filed a chargesheet against both Malik and Dattatreya. While Malik was convicted and sentenced to 14 years, his local accomplice was acquitted for want of evidence.