Overview
- Kalavalapalli Konda Babu and Aviansh Somal were convicted by an NIA special court in Visakhapatnam.
- Each received five years and ten months of simple imprisonment under UAPA Section 18 and the Official Secrets Act Section 3, plus a Rs 5,000 fine with an additional year on default.
- The NIA said the men first connected with Pakistan intelligence operatives on Facebook and later shared sensitive defence details over WhatsApp.
- Investigators said payments for the information were routed by intermediaries Abdul Rehman, Haroon Lakdawala, Shaista Qaiser, and Imran Giteli, who were convicted earlier this year.
- The case dates to December 2019 arrests from Mumbai and Karwar, with 15 total arrests, charge sheets filed in 2020 and 2021, and further trials continuing.