India News | Finance Ministry Contractual Employee Held for Passing on Official Secrets

Ghaziabad (UP), Jul 11 (PTI) A contractual employee with the Union Finance Ministry has been arrested for allegedly possessing and passing on official secrets to a contact, police said on Tuesday.

Naveen Pal (27), a resident of Bheem Nagar, was nabbed at around 7 pm on Monday near Shani temple here following a tip-off, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Rural) Shubham Patel said.

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He said a 61-page official document and a mobile phone were seized from the accused's possession.

During investigation, police found a suspicious mobile number saved as "Anjali of Kolkata" in the cell phone. It is suspected that Pal was passing on official secrets to this number through WhatsApp, the DCP said.

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Pal did this in lieu of money and and some bank transactions have been verified in this regard, he said.

The police officer said a case has been registered against the accused under the Official Secrets Act and the IT Act.

Pal's leaking sensitive information to the "woman" could endanger the national security and also harm India's relationship with other countries, he said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)