JOIN USED arrests Rajeev Sharma on money laundering charges
Freelance journalist Rajeev Sharma, who has been accused of supplying confidential and sensitive information to Chinese intelligence officers in exchange of money, has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on money laundering charges.
He was placed under arrest on July 1 and produced before a local court the next day, which sent him to ED's custody for seven days.
Sharma, who was earlier "snooped" using the controversial Israeli spyware Pegasus, was arrested by Delhi Police's Special Cell on September 14 last year and it was followed by the arrest of a Chinese national, a woman, and a Nepal citizen.
According to an ED statement, the cash for remuneration of Sharma and other unknown people was being "generated through hawala means by Mahipalpur-based (South-West Delhi) shell companies that were run by Chinese nationals Zhang Cheng, Zhang Lixia and Quing Shi as well as Nepali national Sher Singh.
Apart from cash, the ED claimed, huge transactions were made with various Chinese companies and some other trading companies in the country.
"These Chinese companies were acting as a conduit for the Chinese intelligence agencies to provide remuneration for persons like Rajeev Sharma indulged in criminal activities. Rajeev Sharma also received money through benami bank accounts in order to conceal his involvement in criminal activities," it added.
He was among 121 activists, academicians and journalists who were alerted by Canada-based internet research agency Citizens Lab that their phones were compromised through their WhatsApp using 'Pegasus', which was developed by Israeli cyber intelligence firm NSO. The Citizens Lab had informed Sharma that his phone was under surveillance for about two weeks in May last year.
Sharma, a resident of Pitampura New Delhi and has been covering defence and foreign affairs for around two decades, was found to be in possession of "some defence-related classified documents", Delhi Police had said last year.
Delhi Police had claimed that Sharma had 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 as well as one Michael.
Michael had contacted Sharma after seeing his column in Global Times between 2010-14. He contacted Sharma through a Linkedin account and invited him to a sponsored trip to Kunming for an interview with 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," Delhi Police had said last year.