Love affair costs 7-yr imprisonment

28-year-old accused became a ISI spy after falling in love with a Pakistani girl whose father was also an agent

Love affair costs 7-yr imprisonment

28-year-old accused became a ISI spy after falling in love with a Pakistani girl whose father was also an agent

Vishalkumar Premchand Upadhyay (28), an engineering student from Jharkand was sentenced to seven year rigorous imprisonment yesterday by a magistrate court of Pune on charges of providing sensitive information of establishments from Pune to the Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in 2007.u00a0

u00a0Investigations reveal that Upadhyay, a second year student of the Annasaheb Magar College of Engineering at Pimpri-Chinchwad had fallen in love with a Pakistani girl, Fatima Sallaudin Shah, while socialising over Internet two years prior to his arrest. The girl's father was an ISI agent.

Under the influence of the affair, Upadhyay visited Pakistan twice in October 2006 and January 2007 and underwent army training at an undisclosed location in Karachi.

The police recovered 12 CDs containing photographs of army units and Hindu religious places from Upadhyay's possession at the time of his arrest. Two of the CDs contained information regarding defense establishments like NDA, Bombay Sappers, High Explosives factory in Khadki were also found.

u00a0He is convicted under Section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and section 3 and 9 of the Official Secret Act. Chief Judicial Magistrate Suchitra Ghodke announced the sentence. Assistant Public Prosecutor Prakash Gaikwad demanded maximum punishment for Upadhyay stating that he acted against the nation under the garb of love affair. However, defence lawyer Rajesh Kasture requested leniency in jail term citing Upadhyay's age and condition of his ailing parents and unmarried sister as reasons.