Chatroom to Pakistan: How a love affair landed Pune student in ISI spy plot

Vishal fell in love and proposed marriage, to which Fatima allegedly agreed. She then shared a Pakistani cell phone number with him, as per police records. Vishal called her on this number from a local STD booth, running up bills to the amount of Rs 1.5 lakh, the STD booth owner told the police. He only paid Rs 40,000, the police said.

Vishal also spoke to Fatima’s parents in Pakistan over the phone. Though they initially rejected his marriage proposal, they later agreed on the condition that he would convert to Islam, the police records say. Fatima and her father then allegedly invited Vishal to Pakistan. Her father lured him by saying he could settle in London after his wedding and handle a business there.

Vishal used to visit an internet café to chat with Fatima (in pic) and they used to chat daily for hours together, the police said. Both shared details of their families, and as per police records. (Express Photo)

Vishal applied for a Pakistan visa but his application was rejected. According to the police, this is when Sallahudin gave him the contact number of Syed S Hussain Tirmizi, a staffer at the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi. Tirmizi and Javed alias Abdul Latif, another Pakistan High Commission employee, were also named as accused and conspirators in this case.

Vishal allegedly contacted Tirmizi and handed over his documents. During this period, he stayed at a lodge in Delhi’s Paharganj area and received money from Fatima and her father. The Pune police produced before the court details of nine such money transactions between August and December 2006.

Tirmizi and Latif arranged for Vishal’s visa to Pakistan, the police said. The investigation revealed that Vishal visited Pakistan twice – for four days on October 14, 2006, and then for over two weeks on January 23, 2007.

“We received information that Vishal had returned from Pakistan and was having some secret documents and CDs containing photographs of military establishments and religious places in and around Pune. We had information that he was planning to hand over the crucial information to someone in Pakistan so we started surveillance,” said Bhanupratap Barge, the investigation officer of this case, then an inspector attached to the Crime Branch of Pune city police. Barge retired as an assistant commissioner of police.

Vishal was arrested on charges of spying by the Pune city police on April 8, 2007.

During searches, the police allegedly recovered CDs with photographs of buildings of various Army establishments in Pune like the National Defence Academy (NDA), Bombay Engineering Group (BEG), Southern Command etc. It also carried photographs of sensitive locations like the famous Shrimant Dagdusheth Halwai Temple and the RSS head office ‘Motibag’ in Pune, the police said.

The police said they also recovered photocopies of telephone numbers of Army officers, Fatima’s photographs and an envelope addressed to Sallahudin Sha, among other materials.

Ragunath Phuge (now retired), then an assistant police inspector at Crime Branch, lodged the first information report (FIR) against Vishal at the Deccan police station in Pune under Section 120b (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections of the Official Secrets Act (OSA).

In his statements to the police, Vishal spoke about meeting Fatima and her family, his stay at their residence in Karachi, their shopping trips, hotel and garden visits etc. As per the police investigation, based on a statement given by Vishal, during his second visit to Pakistan, Sallahudin allegedly took him to a secret location where he was given military training for “terrorism activities”.

Sallahudin allegedly asked him to learn Islamic religious practices and collect photographs and information about Army establishments and religious places in Pune.

After returning to Pune, Vishal allegedly started gathering information. He contacted Tirmizi and also allegedly received a CD from a man identified as ‘Hafiji’ – the police failed to get further information on him but he too was named as a wanted accused.

The police probe revealed that Vishal visited NDA twice. Indian Army authorities said that information seized from him was of a “classified nature”. The police alleged that Vishal was about to send this information to Pakistan and he was booked under the OSA.

After his arrest, the police investigated multiple email addresses Vishal allegedly used to communicate with Fatima. The probe also revealed that Vishal had contacted some Muslim clerics in Pune and Malegaon to convert to Islam. A Muslim cleric from Pune, whose statement was recorded by the police, even spoke to Sallahudin over the phone. Police said Sallahudin allegedly told the cleric that Vishal had already converted to Islam and was given the name ‘Bilal’. The police submitted an email record with a reference to ‘Bilal’ before the court.

The Pune city police also sought assistance from MEA officials for investigating the role of Pakistan High Commission staffers but action could not be taken against them due to Vienna Convention rules, the police said.

In July 2007, the police submitted a chargesheet against Vishal before a Pune court. He denied the prosecution’s allegations and said that he went to Pakistan twice but only due to his love affair. The court, however, observed that the evidence shows Vishal was in the “thick of conspiracy”.

On March 29, 2011, the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Suchitra Ghodke held Vishal guilty under sections 120 b of the IPC and sections of the OSA and awarded him seven years imprisonment. The police said he was released after serving his term at the Yerwada Central Prison.

“This was a high-profile case. During the investigation, we coordinated with central agencies and successfully exposed not only Pakistan’s ISI but also how officials in Pakistan High Commission, Delhi, were carrying out anti-India activities,” recalled Barge