NEW DELHI, Jan. 8, Reuter — Indian police have arrested retired lieutenant general Nirmal Puri on charges of selling defense secrets to foreign powers, the United News of India (UND) reported.
It said Puri would appear in court on Monday following his arrest on Saturday.
UNI quoted an official of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as saying the arrest was a major breakthrough in cracking a spy ring he alleged was run by Puri and arms dealer Vinod Khanna.
Khanna was arrested late last year on similar charges and the CBI official was quoted as saying Puri’s arrest followed interrogation of Khanna.
UNI gave no indication of which foreign nations were alleged to have received secrets from the two men. It said the CBI had recovered summaries in Puri’s handwriting of top-secret defense documents.
The agency quoted a defense lawyer as saying during an initial court appearance on Saturday that the documents were declassified and obtained before Puri retired in 1984.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 13, 1989
