An Indian court has extended Sharma’s judicial detention until Oct. 25, the lawyer for Rajiv Sharma, an Indian journalist accused of spying for China, said Monday (Oct. 12), according to India’s largest independent news agency, the Indo-Asian News Agency (IANS). The freelance journalist was arrested on charges of passing secret information to Chinese intelligence agencies.
On September 14, a special team of Delhi police arrested Sharma, 61, on suspicion of working for Chinese intelligence agencies. During a search of Sharma’s house, police said they seized a laptop computer, classified documents related to India’s defense, and incriminating documents.
On September 29, the court denied his bail application, noting that the investigating agency had gathered prima facie electronic evidence that the defendant had allegedly violated the Official Secrets Act.
As previously reported, police said Sharma’s mission was to provide information about, among other things, the Sino-Indian border issues of recent years.
Deadly armed clashes between Chinese and Indian border guards erupted in the disputed Garhwan Valley on June 15 this year, resulting in the deaths of 20 Indian soldiers. The two sides are still engaged in a standoff.
Sharma’s arrest coincided with the arrest of a Chinese woman, Qing Shi, and her Nepalese partner, Sher Singh, for allegedly providing him with large sums of money as payment for information that Sharma passed on to Chinese intelligence units.
During his interrogation, Sharma reportedly disclosed his involvement in obtaining classified and sensitive information and passing it through various digital channels to two of his Chinese contacts in Kunming, China.
Police have also said that Sharma, who engages in political commentary and strategic analysis, wrote articles for China’s official Global Times English-language edition from 2010 to 2014. Chinese intelligence officers noticed his column and contacted him through the social media platform Taoying.
Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of the Global Times, said on September 20: “It is very common to have Indians working in the editorial office of the Global Times in Beijing, and to have people from India writing for us. He accused India of “pulling out the Global Times and adding a stunt to the case,” and that “it is particularly disgraceful for the Indian government to do so.
Quoting the court’s earlier opinion, the Indo-Asian News Agency said, “Journalists are an important brick in the fourth pillar of democracy. It would be the darkest day for the press freedom movement if a journalist decided to act with the intention of destabilizing and negatively affecting the sustainability of democracy and its survival.”
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