The Delhi Police's Special Cell will write to the Ministry of Defence to ascertain the authenticity of defence-related classified documents found in possession of arrested freelance journalist Rajeev Sharma, officials said on Sunday.
The journalist was arrested on September 14 in connection with a case under the Official Secrets Act. He is accused of passing sensitive information about India's border strategy, Army's deployment and procurement, and foreign policy to Chinese intelligence agencies, police said.
Sharma (61) has been in police remand for six days, police said, adding that they will seek an extension of his custody.
"We will be writing to the Ministry of Defence on Monday to verify and ascertain the authenticity of the documents found in possession of the arrested journalist," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Sanjeev Kumar Yadav said.
He said the police will seek the defence ministry's opinion to ascertain how the documents might have reached the journalist.
The officer said they will also be writing to Enforcement Directorate regarding the illegal financial transactions allegedly carried out by the accused.
Yadav said e-mail and social media accounts of the journalist are being examined to ascertain the kind of information passed by him to Chinese intelligence officers.
At a press conference held on Saturday, the DCP had said that based on Sharma's statement during interrogation, a Chinese woman and her Nepalese associate were arrested.
"Both the Chinese woman and her associate were directors of shell companies in Delhi's Mahipalpur area and they would export medicines to China and in return, would get huge money which they gave to their agents here," the officer said.