Guwahati, July 4 (NKTV): The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Delhi-based freelance journalist Rajeev Sharma in connection with a money laundering case involving alleged leakage of sensitive information to Chinese officials.
The ED has informed that Sharma had supplied confidential and sensitive information to Chinese intelligence officers, in exchange for remuneration, thereby compromising national security. Sharma was arrested under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and produced before a local court on Friday.
The court granted the ED seven days’ custody of Sharma.
Apart from cash, huge transactions were made with various Chinese companies and some other trading companies in India which are being examined, the ED said. “These Chinese companies were acting as a conduit for the Chinese intelligence agencies to provide remuneration for persons like Sharma who indulged in criminal activities” it said.
The ED case is based on a Delhi Police FIR filed under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) and various sections of the IPC against Sharma last year.
It may be mentioned here that Sharma was arrested by the Delhi Police special cell on September 14 last year and was charged with passing on information about the Indian Army’s deployment and the country’s border strategy to Chinese intelligence.
The journalist was given bail by the Delhi High Court in December 2020 after he sought statutory bail on the grounds that the charge sheet was not filed within 60 days of his arrest.
Inputs from PTI