Intel note calls Kafaitullah a notorious criminal

As the espionage network prevalent in the Indian armed forces widened with the arrest of Munawwar Ahmad Mir, a retired Rashtriya Rifles constable from Jammu and Kashmir, the family of the two main accused seems to be in denial, claiming that two main accused are innocent.

Relatives of the two Rajouri men, identified as Kafaitullah Khan and BSF head constable Abdul Rasheed, arrested on charges of spying for Pakistan, told dna on Friday that the duo had a 'long family history' of serving in the Indian armed forces and would not dare to collaborate with Pakistani Intelligence operatives.

An intelligence note consisting of a profile of the duo, also mentions their family history and current socio-economic status. The note accessed by dna states that siblings of the two accused, are currently serving in the Territorial Army and BSF respectively.

"After verification, Kafaitullah Khan S/O Qudratullah Khan caste Doman, age 35 years, is a resident of village Kalai. His brother is serving in the Army (TA)," the profile reads. An intelligence official told dna that Kafaitullah's father has expired and that he has mother, wife and four children. The note also mentions Kafaitullah as a notorious criminal against whom case FIR No. 13/2012 under section 363, 109 and case FIR No. 101/2014 under section 307 of the Ranbir Penal code stand registered.

However, Mohamad Amin, brother-in-law of Kafaitullah claimed otherwise. While speaking to dna, Amin said that Kafaitullah was getting only Rs 4,000 in salary as the bulk of it would get deducted as he had taken to build a house. "His brother is in the army as well. He had been selected for BSF but decided not to join due to personal issues faced by the family. The cases against him are false," said Amin.

Both Kafaitullah and his cousin Rasheed were arrested by the Crime Branch for sending documents related to security deployment to a Pakistani intelligence operative. A senior police official told dna that Crime Branch recovered incriminating documents at the residence of Kafaitullah, yet his family claimed that no such documents were recovered.

However, the intelligence note profiling the accused states,"The subject (Kafaitullah) was arrested by Crime Branch on November 26, at railway station Delhi and was brought to his native village Manjakote, on his disclosure some documents, including one identity card issued by Education department was recovered from his house".

"We can't travel all the way to Delhi so we don't know what is happening with his case. Through media reports we are getting to know about. We are sure he will be released soon as he is innocent," Amin said.

Similarly, Rasheed's brother too is currently serving in the BSF. Rasheed had also joined the BSF in 1990 and now stands accused of procuring secret documents and sending them to Kafaitullah and a PIO identified as Faizal.

"The duo had sent the documents through whatsapp and deleted the conversation they were having with PIO's. We cant disclose the nature of other documents recovered from the duo," said a senior police officer.

Meanwhile Tahzeem Akhtar, wife of Rasheed, while speaking to dna said, "There are many soldiers in our family and this is a conspiracy against us. My husband has been in army for 25 years and his record is clean. So how so suddenly does all this evidence comes up. Someone in the village did not like to see us serving the nation."

She added that, her husband would be released soon 'as all of this was a misunderstanding'. But not according to the Crime Branch whose investigators are now looking at a wide network of espionage."Many more arrests will follow," said an officer adding that at least four new names have cropped up during the investigation so far.

Munawwar Ahmad Mir, joined the Indian Army in 1995 and took retirement in 2011 after serving in J&K Light Infantry, Rashtriya Rifles at various places in India was arrested by the Crime Branch.