Srinagar: US security agencies had shared Digital intelligence with their Indian counterparts and was crucial in fixing Amir Zubair Siddiqui, Counsellor (Visa) at the Pakistan High Commission in Sri Lanka, in the alleged terror plot to blow up vital establishments in India, TheHindu reported.
On Thursday, National Investigation Agency (NIA), chargesheeted Siddiqui and two others in the alleged conspiracy to attack nuclear installations, defence establishments, the US Consulate in Chennai, the Israeli Consulate in Bengaluru and ports, a report published in The Hindu said on Saturday.
The NIA could not gather adequate evidence to name Siddiqui in the chargesheet. “The NIA then initiated steps to seek the expertise of some foreign countries under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty to extract digital evidence to prove the involvement of the Pakistan diplomat. Since visual elements were sent by e-mail and Facebook, we approached US Intelligence agencies through Interpol seeking their support in cracking the case,” a source was quoted in the report as saying.
“We also verified that the e-mail was accessed from an Internet Protocol (IP) address that was installed in the Pakistan Consulate in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The e-mail was created with the only objective of pursuing the crime and suspects in India and Sri Lanka knew the password. The modus operandi was to drop the sensitive information in the .draft box,” the official was quoted as saying by TheHindu.