Srinagar: A man from India was sent on trial in Frankfrut city by the court for spying on Sikh and Kashmiri communities in Germany for New Delhi’s “secret services.”
The man, according to a report by an international news agency AFP, identified as 54-year-old Balvir S, is accused of working for the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), India’s foreign intelligence agency, since at least January 2015.
Balvir, according to the report, obtained information about “figures in the Sikh opposition scene and the Kashmiri movement and their relatives in Germany, and passed this on to his handlers who were working at the Indian consulate general in Frankfurt”.
With the trial due to conclude on October 29, a total of 10 hearings before the regional superior court are scheduled.
Pertinently, the court in Frankfurt in December 2019 convicted a couple from India of spying on the same communities. The husband was handed a suspended prison sentence of 18 months for acting as a foreign intelligence agent and his wife fined 180 days’ wages for aiding him.
As the rivalry between India and Pakistan continues over the dispute region Kashmir, since both the countries became independent in 1947, an uprising against GoI has been going son claiming tens of thousands of lives.
Frankfurt, according to the report, is of particular interest to the Indian secret services because western Germany is home to the largest Sikh community in the country, estimated at between 10,000 and 20,000 people, and one of the largest in Europe.
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