Police custody of alleged Pak spy extended

The police custody of a visa agent, arrested for allegedly spying for Pakistan, was extended for two days by a local court after the police said they want to ascertain how he procured "confidential" military documents and his exact plan.

The Crime Branch of the police, seeking further custody of Javed Abdul Gafoor Mozawala, told the court that it had recovered secret defence papers from his house and this was a serious offence.

Police have claimed Mozawala had surveyed Western Naval Command in Mumbai, a Navy facility in Lonavla (in Pune district, Bandra Worli Sea Link bridge here and Koyna dam in Satara district, Western Maharashtra.

Mozawala had also allegedly undergone a civil aviation course related to ground handling operations. Two certificates of the course, conducted by a Mumbai institute, were recovered from his residence, they said.

"The basic idea of obtaining these certificates was to get a job of ground handling which allows access to restricted areas at airports," police said.

Meanwhile, the visa agent's family has claimed he was innocent and the charges against him were false.

"We want to find out from where he had procured these confidential documents and who was he going to hand them over to. The accused had also conducted recce of several sensitive locations in Maharashtra. We need to ascertain what his exact plan was," the remand plea stated.

Mozawala, a resident of Mazgaon in south Mumbai, was arrested on December 10 for allegedly spying for a foreign country and has been booked under the Official Secrets Act.

According to the Crime Branch, Mozawala, who was working at the behest of two officials of the Pakistan High Commission, had gone inside restricted defence establishments and taken photographs from his mobile phone camera.

Defence lawyer Mubin Solkar, however, opposed further remand, arguing there has been no progress in the probe and that the recovery of documents from Mozawala's residence was "fake and fabricated".

"There was no recovery of confidential documents. All that was seized from Mozawala's house were a few certificates and his passport, which are public documents," he maintained.