Court awards seven years’ jail term to ‘ISI agent’

Upadhyaya was accused of sending contact numbers of prominent Army officers,other sensitive information and photographs of 48 religious places to the ISI. The court observed that Upadhyay had managed tickets worth Rs 40,000 to visit Pakistan twice while he was sent for engineering studies with just Rs 8,000-Rs 10,000. He had also gone to Delhi to collect the money he received for giving information to ISI. He had once accepted money in Pune and it was routed from Karachi. He also used to frequently bunk his college.

Upadhyaya had defended that he had gone to Pakistan because of his love affair with Fatima. The prosecution said his e-mail conversations showed that he had written “aap jo bolenge wo karenge”. He submitted to the court on Tuesday that he is the only earning member of his family and he had a younger sister who is still single in his defence.

Meanwhile,Upadhyaya’s sister who was present in the court could not control her tears after the court sentenced him. “What do I tell Papa and Mummy now? Mummy will not agree (that you are convicted) and Pappa is ill… what do I say now?” she was heard asking Upadhyaya.

Upadhyaya was arrested by police inspector Bhanupratap Barge and his team from the anti-extortion squad. Raghunath Phuge,an assistant police inspector with the squad,had registered the complaint. The court had examined 10 witnesses in the case.