Investigations into Military Intelligence staffer Shivdasan caught for allegedly trying to sell top secret operational information to Pakistan have got a new twist with reports that two associates,acting on his behalf,paid Rs 1 lakh in Pak currency to a Dubai-based agent. This agent unknown to Shivdasan was an informant working for the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence who then tipped off the agency that led to his arrest. This money was handed over to MI when Shivdasan was arrested. Sources said Shivdasan could have paid this money to show that he had access to privileged information. As first reported in The Indian Express,Shivdasan was working for the Technical Support Division (TSD) within MI headed by Colonel Hunny Bakshi. Sources said DRI was tipped off that an individual was trying to sell sensitive information. A preliminary probe established that Shivdasan contacted a relative of his in Dubai with an offer to sell classified information,sources said. His relative got in touch with an agent in Dubai to broker the deal. Initially,Shivdasan is said to have asked for Rs 60 lakh and a Rs 30-lakh house in Kochi. This agent,sources said,turned out to be the DRI informant who is said to have laid a trap for Shivdasan in Kochi. It has also emerged from Shivdasans questioning,sources said,that the meeting between the DRI informant and Shivdasan was first supposed to take place in Dubai and was to be attended by three persons,including the two private individuals who gave the DRI informant the Rs 1 lakh. However,the meeting was called off. It was finally fixed for Kochi where Shivdasan was arrested.
