Suspected ISI agent arrested in Bengal maintained 'good-boy image' in locality

Kolkata, Dec 19 (IANS) Mukta Mahato, a suspected ISI agent arrested from Kaliaganj in West Bengal's North Dinajpur district, maintained a descent and “good-boy image" in his locality, sources said, adding that he used to run a shop providing online services. 

Mahato was arrested on Monday by sleuths of the Anti-Terrorist Squad of the Mumbai Police.

Before his arrest, none of his neighbours could ever imagine that his online shop was actually the hub for this passing on vital security-related information to intelligence agencies in foreign nations.

Mahato has already been taken to Mumbai in a transit remand for further interrogation and investigation.

After his arrest, North Dinajpur police went to his locality and enquired about him from the neighbours.

The police sources said that the local residents certified Mahato as an extremely soft-spoken and decent boy.

They however, said that his family's financial condition was not stable, but improved substantially since the time Mahato started his online services business.

Mahato has been booked under various non-bailable sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Recently, the ATS-Mumbai had arrested another person in Maharashtra for similar charges of passing on important security-related information of the country to Pakistan.

During investigation, Mahato's name had surfaced.

The officials had reportedly traced a number of bank accounts in Mahato's name where transactions of a few crores of rupees were noted.

All those bank accounts have been frozen.

It was also revealed that Mahato used to frequent Mumbai quite often and interacted with his handlers in other countries.

--IANS

src/ksk