Mohammad Sabar, alias Shabir, a teacher at a state-run school, was arrested from Rajouri district in Jammu in connection with an alleged ISI-linked espionage racket. He was working as a block level officer and was associated with the election cell at the tehsil complex in Rajouri. Sabar, along with retired Army havildar Munawwar Ahmad Mir, who had fought the Kargil war, are being brought to Delhi on transit remand. Mir, arrested on Friday, was working with the Peoples Democratic Party as a local party worker. According to sources, as the joint team of Delhi Police’s Crime Branch and local police raided Sabar’s rented accommodation at Atti on the outskirts of Rajouri town around 6.30 am, he tried to escape. However, he was nabbed by the police. During initial interrogation, Sabar told police that apart from working as teacher, he was working in the election office and as a party worker of a leading political party. “He was cultivated by arrested ISI operative Kafatullah Khan in 2014 and was in constant touch with Pakistan-based ISI handler Faisal over the Internet. He and Khan were planning to visit Pakistan soon. He has received Rs 10,000 in two instalments of Rs 5,000 each from Khan,” police sources said. While investigators did not find any documents from his possession, the Delhi Police have “crucial technical evidence” against Sabar as Khan had tapped one of his telephonic conversations, where Sabar was informing him that he had sent documents to ISI handler Faisal through email. In a related development, a serving Army personnel, Farid, posted at Darjeeling, was detained by the Army and questioned. “Farid was detained by Army personnel and they are questioning him. We will arrest him in coming days,” said Joint Commissioner of Delhi Police (Crime Branch) Ravindra Yadav. Earlier, police had arrested Khan, a library assistant at a government higher secondary school at Manjakote in Rajouri district, and his source BSF head constable Abdul Rasheed on charges of espionage. While the former was arrested at New Delhi railway station when he was on his way to Bhopal, the latter was held from Rajouri town where he had been posted in the BSF’s intelligence wing. The name of Sabar, along with an Army personnel Joginer, who is posted in Jammu, had come up during the interrogation of Khan and Rasheed.
