BJP MEMBERS LINKS WITH ISI EXPOSED IN MADHYA PRADESH

CHIF MINISTER SHIVRAJ SINGH CHOUHAN IN A BIG SWOOP

L S Herdenia

BHOPAL: It might have been highly embarrassing moment for RSS Chief Dr. Mohan Bhagwat that during his presence in Madhya Pradesh MP cops busted a ISI spy ring operating in the state which is ruled by RSS blue eyed boy Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

It was much more embarrassing because this spy ring was being run by some such persons who had connections with RSS outfits. This spy ring was busted on the very day (February 10) when Dr. Bhagwat lashed out at ISIS at a programme at a Madhya Pradesh town. Dr. Bhagwat said that ISIS is a threat to humanity. They are killing innocents and there seems to be no solution to the crisis.

In a major breakthrough Madhya Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) busted an international call racket used by ISI agents to spy on India's military operations. The spy ring facilitated calls from and to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal, bypassing legal channels.

At least 40 'Simboxes' (Chinese-made gadget that holds multiple SIM cards) and 3,000 SIM cards have been seized from eleven suspects, including a BJP leader's brother. They were arrested from Bhopal, Gwalior and Satna. They have all been booked on charges of waging war against the country. Officials expect more arrests soon.

The suspects were involved in espionage, money laundering and fraud, say police. MPATS chief Sanjeev Shami, who led the operation, said that more people including those working with telecom majors are on the radar and would be behind bars.

Besides the crime of spying against the country, the racket also led to massive loss to the telecom department. "They were running a parallel telecom exchange, enabling cross-border handlers posing as senior Army officers to call up military personnel posted in Jammu and Kashmir and dig out details of operations, deployment and installations," said Shami.

The MPATS team was working 24x7 in coordination with central agencies for the last two months. While three people were arrested from Bhopal, five were arrested from Gwalior, two from Jabalpur and one from Satna district.

MPATS officials have seized several Chinese equipment, including mobile phones, laptops and data cards. Calls made via internet were sent to these SIM-boxes which redirected the illegal VoIP traffic onto mobile networks.

Immediately after the arrest State Congress claimed that one of the 11 arrested for espionage racket in Madhya Pradesh is a close relative of a BJP corporator from Gwalior.

Speaking to reporters, state Congress president Arun Yadav said, "One of those arrested from Gwalior, Jitendra Singh Yadav is the brother-in-law of BJP corporator from ward number 58 of Gwalior, Vandana Satish Yadav."

The Congress leader alleged the family of Vandana Satish Yadav is closely associated with Union minister for rural development Narendra Singh Tomar and state minister for urban administration Maya Singh. "The ATS should investigate this angle of the closeness of accused Jitendra Singh Yadav's family with top BJP leaders and the role they played in the ruling party," PCC chief said. 

Later some more names having connection with the Sangh Parivar came to the light one such name was that of Ashish Singh. The moment Ashish Singh's name became public it triggered a Twitter war between Congress and BJP.

While senior BJP leader Kailash Vijayavargiya praised the state police for busting the racket, AICC general secretary Digvijaya Singh sparked controversy by stating "none of the ISI suspects was a Muslim". "I congratulate chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Madhya Pradesh Police for this special achievement against terrorism and its perpetrators in any form must be crushed," tweeted Vijayavargiya.

Digvijaya took a dig at Prime Minister Modi and his supporters by tweeting, "ISI agents arrested in Bhopal do not have a single Muslim. One of the suspects is a BJP member. Modi's supporters must think of it."

Congress leaders then released some pictures, alleging that one of the suspects, named Dhruv Saxena, was district convener of the IT cell of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM). Some pictures showed Saxena at BJP programmes accompanying top BJP leaders, including the CM, Vijayavargiya and Bhopal BJYM president Anshul Tiwari.

BJP countered that anybody can take a selfie with top leaders and can join party membership drive. State BJP chief Nand Kumar Chauhan said, "I don't know Dhruv and neither is he a member of the party. I congratulate ATS for the arrests. Digvijaya Singh's tweet is aimed to vitiate communal harmony in the state."

"A picture cannot corroborate connivance of any leader with a criminal or anti-social element. People take photos with top leaders and sometimes join public and party functions to take advantage. But this does not indicate any association," said Anshul Tiwari.

Home minister Bhupendra Singh eulogised Shivraj Singh Chouhan for "his efficient leadership leading to breaking the network of ISI in the world".

"The most powerful action against terrorism in India is being taken in Madhya Pradesh. First, police killed SIMI terrorists after a jailbreak and now the law enforcing agency unearthed the ISI network," he told reporters in Sagar.

Facing flak over allegations that Dhruv Saxena, one of the suspects arrested in the ISI spy ring bust is a BJP member and office bearer of the party IT cell, BJP went to great pains to distance itself from him.

BJP state Chief Nandkumar Singh Chauhan has denied the charge that spy racket has exposed Bhagwa Atankvad (saffron terrorism).

"We have nothing to do with Dhruv Saxena. Absolutely nothing, he was not a member of BJYM. One can take a photo with anybody, a leader or a minister. There is no method to find out who is standing beside me now, for instance," Chauhan said, when asked about the pictures of Dhruv with senior party leaders circulating on social media.

On the statement given by Dhruv's mother Rajni Saxena that her son was working for BJP, Chauhan said, "Her statement is not true; there was no connection, not at all."

The BJP state unit issued a new list of its Yuva Morcha and state IT cell office-bearers claiming the party has nothing to do with those arrested in the ISI spy ring case.

BJYM district head Anshul Tiwari has released a list of district office-bearers where Dhruv's name is not included. Asked about allegations of intelligence failure by police and ATS, Chauhan said ATS has done a "remarkable job".

Supporting Nandkumar's statement, BJYM state head Akhilesh Pandey also claimed that morcha had released a statement denying any involvement with Dhruv Saxena. "Rajesh and Anshul Bhadoria is IT cell in charge and they have denied that Dhruv was a member of the cell," clarified Pandey.

The government is trying to find out how come Dhruv Saxena managed to get a picture clicked with chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. It is alleged that besides, Dhruv, two more suspects Jitendra Thakur and Mohit Agrawal have BJP connections in Gwalior and Bhopal.