NIA to Probe ‘Blackmailing’ of Woman Colonel

The case was previously being investigated by the Delhi Police, who had arrested an alleged ISI agent in Delhi.

YC Modi, Director General, National Investigation Agency (NIA).

(Photo: The Quint)

The Union Home Ministry has ordered to transfer the case of a Delhi-based woman colonel of the Indian Army being ‘blackmailed’ to the National Investigative Agency (NIA), citing a larger conspiracy by Pakistani intelligence bureau ISI to blackmail Indian Army’s women officers, The Indian Express reported.

The case was previously being investigated by the Delhi Police, who arrested an alleged ISI agent named Mohammed Parvez from Old Delhi in September this year.

In the initial report, the woman colonel said that Parvez’s phone number was used to blackmail her in order to extract confidential army information from her.

She alleged the perpetrator sent doctored photos of her on WhatsApp since June.

The woman colonel is a resident of Delhi and had filed her complaint with the Delhi Police in Dwarka in August. A case was then registered under Section 123 of the Indian Penal Code (concealing with intent to facilitate design to wage war), and Parvez was charged with molestation, criminal conspiracy, and criminal intimidation.

According to The Indian Express, investigators also said that Parvez had gone to Pakistan several times, fuelling speculations that he might have been under pressure from his bosses there to get more information out of the Indian Army. Home Ministry officials added that as per investigation by the Delhi Police, new facts have came out, leading them to believe it was a bigger conspiracy.

“It was therefore decided that the investigations should be carried out by a counter-terror agency like the NIA. This will not only help expedite the probe but clear the suspicion on the role of Parvez, as his family claimed he is innocent,” a senior government official told IE.

On the contrary, Parvez’s family claimed that he visited the neighbouring country three times in 2017 – once for a wedding, once for a funeral, and the third time for another trip with his mother. His family said Parvez visits Pakistan every year, IE reported.

“Two of our sisters married around two decades ago and are settled there. He visits Karachi at least eight times a year. He does it with proper permission, shuttling between buses and trains, and not by infiltrating the border like some channels are saying,” Arshad, Parvez’s brother, told The Indian Express.

Parvez is married and has four children. He used to sell artificial jewellery on the streets but has been unemployed since the last four years after the police asked him to vacate.

(With inputs from The Indian Express)