New Delhi: In August 2022, 8 Indian ex-Navy officers were arrested in Qatar on charges of espionage. All of them used to work for a private firm. All of them were arrested by the Intelligence Service of Qatar based in Doha. Eight months have passed since the former officers of the Indian Navy were arrested. A case is going on against all of them in the local court and a hearing has already taken place.
At the same time, on Wednesday, May 3, the allegations against them are to be heard again. If reports are to be believed, if the charges of espionage on all these Indians are proved, then they can also be sentenced to death. However, Qatar has not yet shared the allegations leveled against them with India. The Indians who were arrested are Captain Navtej Singh Gill, Captain Birendra Kumar Verma, Captain Saurabh Vashisht, Commander Amit Nagpal, Commander Purnendu Tiwari, Commander Sugunakar Pakala, Commander Sanjeev Gupta and Sailor Ragesh.
According to the report, a hearing on the Indians has already taken place in the Qatar court on 29 March. After this the hearing is to be held today. At the same time, the Ministry of External Affairs of the Government of India says that it is trying to provide all possible help to these Indians. Along with this, efforts are on to provide help to their families as well. Currently, the legal trial is going on in Qatar on the former officers of the Indian Navy. They have been accused of spying on Qatar's high-tech submarines for Israel. According to reports, these submarines are covered with metamaterials, due to which their capabilities are further boosted and it becomes very difficult for other submarines to detect them.
Let us tell you that the former personnel of the Indian Navy officers were arrested on 30 August 2022. The sister of one of them appealed to the central government to release him. She told the Center that his brother is a retired Navy Commander, who had gone to Qatar to train the Qatar Navy. He went there through a company Global Consultancy Services. At that time the Ministry of External Affairs had taken cognizance of this and tried to contact Qatar.
The Indian Ministry of External Affairs is facilitating regular visits to the families of these former officers, along with they are also being provided with consular and legal assistance. Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi had said that the Ministry of External Affairs is making all efforts to assist these Indians. Bagchi had said that he is in touch with the Qatari authorities in this matter. The Indian Embassy in Qatar is in constant touch with the families of former Navy officers. He had said that before the next hearing against the former naval officers, he was seeing what he could do.
The allegations made against the arrested former naval officers have not yet been shared with the Indian officials from Qatar. Those allegations have not yet been disclosed. Bagchi had said that as the legal process progresses, perhaps the allegations against him would also come to the fore.
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