India’s NIA to chargesheet former Colombo based Pakistan diplomat
India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) is likely to chargesheet former Pakistan diplomat Amir Zubair Siddiqui, Counsellor (Visa) at the Pakistan High Commission in Colombo, in a case of conspiracy to attack vital establishments in India, The Hindu newspaper reported.
The chargesheet will be filed at a special court for terror cases at Poonamallee near here on Thursday.
Among the installations planned to be targeted were the U.S. Consulate in Chennai, the Israeli Consulate in Bengaluru, Eastern Naval Command HQ in Visakhapatnam and ports across the country. The case relates to the arrest of Mohamed Zakir Hussain by the ‘Q’ Branch CID of the Tamil Nadu police in 2013 here on specific information that he was indulging in spying activities as an agent of Pakistan.
Zakir Hussain’s task was to cause explosion at the foreign consulates, defence and nuclear establishments among others. Incriminating documents and fake Indian currency were seized from his possession.
He admitted to interrogators that he was acting at the behest of Mr. Siddiqui, an official of the Pakistan Consulate in Colombo.
NIA investigations revealed that Hussain had met Mr. Siddiqui in Colombo on a few occasions and was instructed to collect information about defence establishments, movement of arms/ammunition to the Indian Army and arrange fake passport/visa for two Pakistan nationals to enter India.
Based on the information shared by Hussain, the NIA team visited Sri Lanka and other countries to collect evidence to prove the involvement of Mr. Siddiqui, a Pakistan Naval Officer on deputation to Sri Lanka.
However, since concrete evidence could not be gathered, the diplomat was not named in the chargesheet.
“We now have clinching evidence to prove the involvement of Mr. Siddiqui in the terror plot. A supplementary chargesheet will be filed,” the police said. (Colombo Gazette)
