Chandigarh: An alleged agent of Indian intelligence agency Research & Analysis Wing (R&AW) is set to face trial in Germany in coming months. German prosecutors will present evidence in a Federal state-security court that Balvir Singh, a Frankfurt based man received payoffs from India’s R&AW for spying on Sikhs and Kashmiris.
Network18, an Indian media platform, reported with reference to ‘highly-placed diplomatic sources’ that the German prosecutors are set to share details of the Indian intelligence’s operations in Germany.
Balvir Singh’s case centres around a senior R&AW officer, recruited into India’s intelligence agency from the Indian Revenue Service and operating out of India’s consulate in Frankfurt, the news report says.
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It further notes that [t]he officer was asked to leave Germany after serving for less at the station for just six months, on charges of engaging in spying and espionage activities.
Germany’s domestic intelligence service, the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz or BfV, had targeted the officer’s activities in Frankfurt for surveillance, it notes further.
According to this news report, R&AW maintains that there are two outposts operating under diplomatic cover in Germany — the most in any European country — running from India’s embassy in Berlin, and the consulate in Frankfurt.
Though this news report claims that the Bundesnachrichtendienst, or BND liaisons with Indian intelligence, the details of the last trial of a couple who worked for R&AW in Germany reveals otherwise.
S. Gurcharan Singh Goraya who witnessed the court proceedings told Sikh Siyasat News (SSN) that an official of German intelligence agency told the court that R&AW’s spying operations were in contravention of German laws and an information sharing treaty between India and Germany.
WATCH VIDEO: Sikh Siyasat’s Talk with S. Gurcharan Singh Goraya :-
He said that these covert operations of Indian intelligence were first noticed by German authorities when it was found during a criminal investigation that the subject of such investigation was involved in spying against Sikhs and Kashmiris for R&AW.
⊕ ALSO READ – BERLIN: INDIAN MAN CHARGED WITH SPYING ON SIKH ORGANIZATIONS IN GERMANY (2014/03/25)
He said that at least four such cases have surfaced since then and German authorities pursue criminal charges against exposed Indian agents and try them in German courts.
In 2019, a Frankfurt court gave a R&AW stooge Manmohan Singh a suspended sentence for spying on Sikhs and Kashmiris for R&AW. Along with his wife Kamaljit Kaur, Manmohan Singh was found guilty of receiving €7200 for information provided to R&AW between 2015 and 2018.
⊕ ALSO READ – GERMANY: R&AW STOOGE COUPLE CONVICTED FOR SPYING ON SIKHS AND KASHMIRIS (2019/12/13)
Earlier, in 2015, an Indian origin German immigration officer was prosecuted for passing on information against Sikhs residing in Germany to R&AW.
Recently, a court verdict related to an immigration suit in Canada revealed that R&AW was using an Indian journalist, identified in the verdict as ‘AB’, to influence Canadian politicians. Documents related to the suit show that he was working for India’s Intelligence Bureau (IB) and R&AW.
While conforming R&AW’s undergoing ‘operations’ to spy on Sikhs in European countries, Network18 news report maintains that when the present R&AW chief Samant Goel was stationed in London R&AW’s new operations in Europe sparked off confrontations with domestic intelligence services in those countries, who believed India was violating the conventions governing the activities of it.
“Goel himself, intelligence sources said, came under pressure from authorities in the United Kingdom, who believed his operations were poaching on existing assets of that country’s own domestic intelligence service, MI5”, the Network18 news report says.