The Visakhapatnam naval spy case widened on Thursday after the Andhra Pradesh Counter Intelligence Cell arrested two engineering-company employees accused of sharing information about the number of ships and submarines at the restricted Visakhapatnam Naval Dockyard with suspected Pakistan-linked operatives for money.
The latest arrests took the total number of people arrested in the wider investigation to four. The accused were identified as Bongu Ravi, 30, and Kadari Srinivas, 31, both employees of TD Engineering Company. The company worked at the Visakhapatnam Naval Dockyard, although the two men were posted at different locations, investigators said.
According to the CI Cell, Ravi and Srinivas were introduced online by a woman using the Facebook name “Angel Payal”. Investigators allege that the woman claimed to work for a Dubai-based shipping company involved in logistics for ships and crews. She allegedly promised large payments in exchange for sensitive defence information and acted as an intermediary between the two men, officials said.
The investigators allege that Srinivas induced Ravi to share details about the number of ships and submarines present at the naval dockyard. An official said the information related to a “highly restricted and sensitive defence area”. The unidentified woman has been listed as accused A-2 in the first information report.
Srinivas, whom investigators have identified as a key person of interest, had travelled to Saudi Arabia in the first week of October, according to sources cited in the report. After Andhra Pradesh Police made attempts to secure his deportation, he returned to New Delhi on October 11. Visakhapatnam City Police and CI Cell officers took him into custody at the airport and brought him to Visakhapatnam, investigators said.
The arrests followed the CI Cell’s October 6 announcement that it had busted a module allegedly involved in sharing sensitive defence information with Pakistan Intelligence Operatives. The agency said the wider module comprised at least 18 suspects, including 13 people associated with the Navy. Investigators alleged that Pakistani operatives used fake identities, including women’s profiles on social media, to befriend personnel connected with the Visakhapatnam Naval Dockyard. Some suspects were allegedly offered money, while others were allegedly blackmailed.
The operation, titled “Operation Firewall–2026”, began on October 1 and involved 12 teams working across Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat, Goa, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh and Bihar. The first FIR in the wider investigation was registered at the Counter Intelligence Police Station in Vijayawada on September 2.
A second FIR was registered at Malkapuram Police Station in Visakhapatnam on October 12 under the Official Secrets Act, based on information provided by two people arrested earlier in October. A chargesheet was reportedly filed the same day in a Visakhapatnam court against Ravi, Srinivas and the unidentified woman under provisions of the Official Secrets Act, 1923, and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
The two earlier arrested accused were identified as Pradeep Mukharjee, an employee at the Visakhapatnam base, and Annam Sai Varaprasad, a civilian contractual driver engaged to transport naval officers. Investigators alleged that Mukharjee shared a one-time password to activate a WhatsApp account for a Pakistan Intelligence Operative, communicated with the operative and shared sensitive information relating to naval and defence establishments. Varaprasad was accused of sharing sensitive information in exchange for money.
Both men were produced before a court in Vijayawada, which remanded them to judicial custody until October 14. The latest arrests and the reported chargesheet form part of the continuing investigation into the alleged network and its links to personnel and contractors connected with the naval facility.
