Bengaluru: The Udipi police, in continuation in Malpe Shipping yard spy ring investigation, have arrested a 34-year-old resident of Gujrat, who had provided SIM cards to the two people from Uttar Pradesh, who used to leak sensitive Indian Navy Data to unauthorised foreign entities.
The arrested has been identified as Hirendra Kumar Khadayat from Anand taluk, who was also working at Cochin Shipping Yard along with the two persons arrested earlier.
The tem headed by Karkala Sub-division DySP Harsh Priyamvada, through technical surveillance found out that Khadayat had procured a SIM card in his own name and gave it to the main accused for money. "The Gujarat based person was supplying SIM cards and OTPs that were used to activate WhatsApp accounts for communication with the Pakistani handlers,'' the officer said.
Khadayat was produced before the court, who was remanded to judicial custody.
The case surfaced in November, 2025, when a security breach was reported at Cochin Shipyard in Malpe. The Shipyard had engaged Sushma Marine Pvt Ltd., as a sub-contractor for maintenance of Naval ships. The two employees of the subcontractor, originally from Uttar Pradesh -- Rohit (29) and Santri (37) were arrested in this connection.
The two allegedly captured and shared a confidential list of Indian Navy ship identification numbers and sent details of vessel repair schedules and sensitive infrastructure data.The police said that the two were reportedly paid by handlers based in Pakistan. The two have been charged under various sections of BNS and UAPA.
The arrest of Hirendra Kumar Kadeyal suggests a wider network of logistical support spanning multiple states and further investigation is in progress to identify more links in the chain, the police said.
