NIA conducts searches across 7 states to probe leakage of defence secrets

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has conducted searches at locations across seven states to probe the case of classified defence information leakage through a Pakistani espionage racket, according to an official statement issued on Thursday.

The premises searched on Wednesday by NIA teams were linked with suspects who had received money from Pakistan to undertake spying activities in India, it said.

"Extensive searches were conducted at 16 locations in Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Haryana in the case related to leakage of classified defence information through a Pakistani ISI espionage racket," the NIA statement said.

Twenty-two mobile phones and a host of sensitive documents were seized during the searches conducted by the NIA, which had in July 2023 taken over the instant case, originally registered in January 2021 by the counter-intelligence cell of Andhra Pradesh.

The case involved the leakage of sensitive vital information pertaining t