Arun Selvarajan allegedly routed his information via Skype and Viber to his Pakistani handlers
A Sri Lankan posing as a businessman in Chennai has been arrested on charges of spying for Pakistan and photographing high-security zones, which has intelligence officials concerned about possible plans for a 26/11-type attack in the South.
The National Investigation Agency, which handles cases linked to terrorism, says Arun Selvarajan had photographed and filmed areas of national security including the Coast Guard's hub and a training college for army recruits in Tamil Nadu, and the navy's large base in Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.
Mr Selvarajan, who is believed to have moved to Chennai three years ago, ran an events management company which organized concerts and conferences. He allegedly made contacts among those posted at high-security installations to get photographs of sensitive locations.
Intelligence officials tell NDTV that the picture they are piecing together suggests that Mr Selvarajan may have been deployed to collate a series of visual guides that could be used for a 26/11-type attack in Tamil Nadu. The landmarks targeted by Pakistani terrorists in Mumbai in 2008 had been filmed and photographed extensively by Pakistani national David Coleman Headley, who is now in jail in the US.
Mr Selvarajan, who was arrested yesterday, allegedly routed his information via Skype and Viber to his Pakistani handlers at Colombo. He had allegedly been paid lakhs of rupees; he used the ATM of a bank account held by his Pakistani handler in Colombo.
Officials tell NDTV that they believe Mr Selvarajan's Pakistani handler was also the point person for another man arrested in Chennai last year on charges of espionage.