Sreenish Pookodan, a 30-year-old contract worker at Cochin Shipyard, arrested on December 21, was charged with lurking, trespassing and spying. Police arrested him after getting a complaint from the security manager of the shipyard in the wee hours of December 20.
According to the FIR, Pookkodan has been leaking details, including those about the arrival of defence ships, their maintenance and positioning, to a Facebook account named ANGEL PAYAL from March 1 to December 19.
Pookkodan allegedly trespassed an under-construction defence ship and took pictures of the same on his mobile phone. The details of visits by VVIPs and the incidents inside ships were also leaked to the ANGEL PAYAL social media account. The investigators are looking into the foreign connections of the account.
IB and the shipyard’s investigation team zeroed in on the breach during their probe, following which, the accused was taken into custody and handed over to the police.
Pookkodan was charged under Section 3(1)a and Section 5 of the Official Secrets Acts, 1923, which pertains to penalties for spying and wrongful communication, respectively, with potential imprisonment for a term ranging from three to 14 years. Additionally, Section 457 was applied for trespassing, carrying a potential sentence ranging from five to 14 years.
Early this month, a Bangladesh national named Mohammed Al Ameen, who had been illegally staying in Kochi, was arrested for trespassing into the Cochin Shipyard Limited guest house at Panampilly Nagar. Ernakulam South Police told THE WEEK that no connection between this incident and Pookodan’s arrest has been established yet. “This Bangladeshi illegally crossed the border, came to Bangalore first and from there to Kochi. He had no ID cards. The investigation about his whereabouts is still progressing.”
Last year, an Afghanistan national—Abbas Khan alias Idgul—who was working for a contractor at CSL was also arrested by the police. The foreigner used forged identity documents, including fake Aadhaar and PAN cards, to get a job with the CSL contractors.
