Orissa HC notice to Centre, Odisha government in DRDO espionage case

Cuttack: The Orissa High Court issued notices to the Centre and the state government on Tuesday on a plea seeking its directions for a probe into the DRDO espionage case by a central investigating agency. A division bench of the High Court headed by Chief Justice S Muralidhar admitting a public interest litigation asked the two respondents - the Centre and the state government to file status reports detailing the investigations made so far into the security-related case with alleged international links. The bench has fixed 7 December for the next hearing. Advocate Arun Kumar Budhia had in his PIL said that the Odisha Police crime branch, which is now investigating the case, is not capable of probing it and will not be able to reveal the truth. In his plea, Budhia sought handing over the case to the National Investigation Agency or the Central Bureau of Investigation as the matter relates to national security. In September, five employees of the Integrated Test Range of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) at Chandipur in Balasore district were arrested on the charge of having links with a foreign agent and supplying credible information to enemies. Odisha Police had found the involvement of a female operative, suspected to be from Pakistan, in the espionage case. Police had said on Saturday that it had found the involvement of another woman in the case.