Pak spy organises Tamil music event in SL, sleuths tune in

CHENNAI: Sleuths from various Indian intelligence agencies were keeping a close watch on a music concert that happened in Jaffna on Saturday. No, it was not the songs that caught their fancy; rather, they were keeping a tab after learning that a Sri Lankan-origin man, whom NIA caught in Chennai spying for Colombo-based Pakistani handlers, in 2014, is part of the event management company.

The man on their radar is Arun Selvaraj, a Lankan national who was trying to settle in Chennai using a fake Indian passport. In Chennai, he was running an event management agency, allegedly as a cover while he was spying on several strategic installations in south India. Before the NIA tracked and nabbed him on September 10, 2014, he had transmitted photographs and videos of sensitive installations to the handler who was working at the Pakistan High Commission in Colombo.

The espionage ring that he was part of was allegedly working for Pakistan’s external intelligence agency, ISI, and was doing preparatory work for a terror act when it was busted, the NIA had alleged in its charge sheet.

Sources told DT Next that Arun was seen hobnobbing with popular music director Santhosh Narayanan in Jaffna on Saturday. Arun is reported to be working with an event management company which is linked to ‘Yaazh Ganam’, the music concert by Santhosh Narayanan. The programme was held on Saturday despite objections from a section of Tamil groups in the island nation.

His arrest in 2014 came after the apprehension of Thamim Ansari of Athiramapatinam in 2012, suspected to be spying for Pakistan. Both were allegedly reporting to Amir Zubair Siddiqui, a Pakistan diplomat posted as the counsellor (visa) at the Pakistan High Commission in Colombo.

Arun used a fake Indian passport that identified him as Sivagaminathan Saravanamuthu, and was staying in Chennai while he ran an event management firm. Thameem Ansari from Athiramapatinam in Thanjavur was a former SFI member and small-time businessman shuttling between Sri Lanka and his native.

They were part of a spy ring, along with Boss alias Amir Subair Siddique, former counsellor (visa) at Pakistan High Commission, Haji alias Siraji Ali, and Vineet alias Saghe, a Pak intelligence officer, said the NIA charge sheet, in which Thameem and Arun are cited as accused 1 and 5, respectively.

The NIA had claimed that the five conspired together, and as per the plan, Thameem and Arun clandestinely took photographs and video clippings of the naval bases in Nagapattinam and Mallipattinam, Officers’ Training Academy and Indian Coast Guard facilities in Chennai, Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, besides other sensitive Indian government offices. These were dispatched to their handler in the Pakistan mission.

After Arun’s arrest, the NIA seized a laptop, hard discs, pen drives, micro-tape cassettes, and Indian and Sri Lankan passports from his residence. During the investigation, the agency found that he had sent aerial shots of IGCAR, Kalpakkam, following which security was tightened in and around the facility located on the shore near Mahabalipuram.

Though he served jail term in the case and was deported back to Sri Lanka, Arun is still on various security and intelligence agencies’ radar, as the kingpin of the ring is still at large. Sources said NIA is hunting for Amir Zubair Siddiqui, a wanted man in the central agency’s list who is believed to be hiding somewhere in Pakistan.