Arrested scribe Rajeev Sharma was passing info about India's border strategy to Chinese: Delhi Police

After arresting a Chinese national and her Nepali partner in connection with a spy ring, Delhi Police on Saturday claimed that their alleged accomplice freelance journalist Rajeev Sharma was passing sensitive information about India's border strategy and Army deployment to Chinese intelligence.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Sanjeev Yadav said that Sharma, who was earlier "snooped" using the controversial Israeli spyware Pegasus, was in touch with two Chinese operatives since 2016 after they approached him after seeing his articles in Chinese government mouthpiece Global Times.

Yadav claimed that Sharma, who was arrested on September 14, has received more than Rs 30 lakh from an operative identified as George in about 10 instalments since January 2019 for the information provided by him. He also had meetings with George in Malaysia and in Kunming City in China.

Arrested under the Official Secrets Act, he had earlier worked with United News of India, The Tribune, Free Press Journal, Saakaal among others.

His interrogation led to the arrest of Qing Shi and her business partner Sher Singh, who were operating a company in south-west Delhi's Mahipalpur. The duo were accused of paying money to Sharma routed through hawala channels and shell companies for providing sensitive information to the Chinese.

According to Yadav, Sharma told his interrogators that he was relaying information to two operatives identified as Michael and George, who are based in Kunming, through digital channels.

Michael had contacted Sharma after seeing his column in Global Times between 2010-14. He contacted Sharma through Linkedin account and invited him to a sponsored trip to Kunming for an interview in a Chinese media company.

Yadav claimed it was during this meeting that Michael and his junior Xou asked Sharma to work for them for money.

"Between 2016 and 2018, Sharma was in contact with Michael and Xou. He was tasked to provide the information/inputs on issues like Indian deployment on Bhutan-Sikkim-China tri-junction including Doklam, the pattern of India-Myanmar military co-operation, India-China boundary issue etc. Subsequently, Sharma had meetings with Michael and Xou in Laos and Maldives," he said.

George, who was identified as a General Manager of a Chinese media company, came in contact with Sharma in January 2019 and the latter met the Chinese operative in Kunming by travelling through Kathmandu. During this meeting, Sharma was asked to write about Dalai Lama related issues and was offered USD 500 article or information.

"George told Rajeev Sharma that they will send him money through his company’s sister concern based in Mahipalpur being operated by Qing. Sharma received more than Rs 30 lakh from George in about 10 installments from January 2019 to September 2020 for the information provided by him. Sharma had further meetings with George in Malaysia and again in Kunming City," Yadav said.

Investigators also found that shell companies were being operated by foreign intelligence to transfer funds to Sharma.

It came to light that Chinese nationals Jhang Chang and his wife Chang-li-lia were running MZ Pharmacy and MZ Malls under fake names Suraj and Usha. They are presently in China and on their behalf, the company is being run by Qing and Bhora.