Prime Accused Kadri Srinivas Held at Delhi Airport After Return from Saudi Arabia
In a high-stakes counter-intelligence breakthrough, Indian security agencies have apprehended Kadri Srinivas, the prime accused in the high-profile Visakhapatnam Naval Dockyard espionage racket, intercepting him at Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi upon his arrival from Saudi Arabia. The coordinated operation was executed through seamless synergy between the Andhra Pradesh Counter Intelligence Cell and central intelligence agencies, which had earlier alerted immigration checkpoints nationwide by issuing a Lookout Circular (LOC) after tracking his overseas movements to West Asia. Following his formal interception on October 11, Srinivas was remanded to judicial custody, marking a decisive escalation in the multi-agency crackdown aimed at neutralizing espionage rings targeting India's strategic Eastern Naval Command assets.
The 'Angel Payal' Honeytrap: How Naval Dockyard Contractors Were Compromised
The origins of the espionage network trace back to 2023, when co-accused Pongu Ravi was systematically targeted on social media by an unidentified operative operating a fraudulent Facebook persona under the moniker "Angel Payal." Posing as an executive associated with a Dubai-based maritime logistics enterprise handling international commercial vessels, the handler cultivated rapport with Ravi before offering financial inducements to extract sensitive defense intelligence. Working as contractual technicians for TD Engineering within the heavily fortified perimeter of the Visakhapatnam Naval Dockyard, both Ravi and Srinivas held direct physical access to sensitive marine infrastructure. Exploiting their internal clearances, the duo systematically tracked, documented, and transmitted sensitive operational data—including the berth counts, technical deployment patterns, and operational readiness schedules of frontline Indian Navy warships and strategic submarines—in exchange for recurring wire transfers routed directly into domestic bank accounts before being apportioned between them.
Official Secrets Act Chargesheet Filed as Agencies Hunt Foreign Handler
The criminal conspiracy was formally brought to light after the Malkapuram police station in Visakhapatnam registered an FIR on October 12, 2025, booking the suspects under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code alongside stringent provisions of the Official Secrets Act, 1923. While investigating teams had earlier taken Pongu Ravi into custody and successfully submitted a detailed chargesheet arraigning three accused before the competent court, Srinivas’s escape overseas had temporarily delayed comprehensive custodial cross-examination. With Srinivas now in custody, forensic interrogators are working to reconstruct the digital transmission architecture used to exfiltrate classified maritime data, even as intelligence wings coordinate with overseas partners to unmask the true identity, operational base, and intelligence network coordinating behind the fictitious "Angel Payal" facade.
