The TLDR: Over the weekend, the Delhi police arrested Rajeev Sharma—a freelance columnist—for spying on behalf of China. Also in the mix: his alleged handlers, a Chinese woman named Qing Shi and her Nepali husband Sher Singh. But the surprise arrest of a not-very-noteworthy journalist—who boasted about his connection to National Security Adviser Ajit Doval—raised more questions than it answered.

Who is this guy?

Sharma wrote a bunch of columns on foreign policy and national security for a variety of Indian publications including Firstpost, United News of India and The Tribune. Between 2010 and 2014, he was a regular contributor for Global Times—which is a mouthpiece of the Chinese government. There’s nothing exceptional or noteworthy in the views expressed in these articles. (Full Disclosure: Splainer founder Lakshmi Chaudhry was his editor at Firstpost and remembers him as an India hawk who was highly supportive of the Modi government.)

Okay, so what is he charged with?

Delhi police laid out a fully masaledar history after his arrest. It was big on colour but oddly missing crucial details:

• In 2016, when he was writing for Global Times, Sharma was allegedly contacted by a Chinese intelligence agent—who invited him on an all-expenses paid trip to China. This is when he was recruited as a spy.
• His job: To provide information on Indian troop deployment on the “Bhutan-Sikkim-China tri-junction, the pattern of India-Myanmar military co-operation, and India-China boundary issue.”
• In 2019, he was contacted by another person ‘George’ who was the General Manager of a Chinese Media Company. Sharma was asked to write pieces on the Dalai Lama for $500 a pop—and the money would be funneled to him via two Delhi companies.
• The two companies—MZ Pharmacy and MZ Malls—were actually owned by a Chinese couple, under fake Indian names. And the two others arrested—Qing and her hubby Singh—were its directors.
• According to the police: Sharma was paid Rs 45-50 lakh plus “luxury holidays” as an added perk. 
• In 2019, he claimed that he was one of the Indian journalists contacted by a Canadian NGO—and was told that his phone had been hacked using the secret surveillance software Pegasus.

So what are the missing details?

What’s the evidence? According to the police, “Laptop, confidential documents related to the Indian Defense department and other incriminating documents were recovered [from Sharma].” And he confessed to being a spy: “During questioning, Sharma disclosed that he was about to send critical information on the current India-China stand-off along with secret documents to his handlers in China.” But the police refused to say any more about this so-called sensitive information. 

The Press Club of India—which has objected to his arrest—said the charge is “mind-boggling,” adding: “Sharma wrote on strategic affairs and may well have accessed routinely over-classified information on the Internet that is in the public domain.” Translation: Indian government often labels freely available information as “classified”—and Sharma was likely caught with the results of his internet research at best. 

Point to note: It doesn’t inspire confidence that the police pointed to his YouTube videos and a recent Global Times column as evidence of guilt.

How did he get it? Here’s the really weird bit. The police’s answer is extremely vague and unconvincing: “Sharma had access in various ministries and was a part of the media circle with good contacts and so had access to a lot of information, which he passed on to China for money.”

Hmm. As The Telegraph points out, this claim has a glaring flaw:

“Inherent in such a theory is an assumption that the officials who reportedly gave the information to Sharma were aware that they were speaking to a journalist and the information was for publication. It is unlikely that any official would innocuously hand over classified information for publication.”

And if someone did hand him classified information, why have they not been arrested or named? It would be odd and foolish to arrest Sharma without identifying the leak within the government—which is surely of greater concern.

And what’s his Doval link?

Sharma identified himself in his bio as a senior fellow at the Vivekananda International Foundation—a pro-BJP think tank with close ties to the National Security Adviser who was its founding director. According to Deutsche Welle, a page on the VIF site linking to Sharma's work for the think tank has been removed. 

There isn’t any damning evidence of his relationship with Doval—other than Sharma’s own claims of “thousands of interactions” with him. But Sharma was definitely a Doval fanboy. See: his fawning Firstpost column.

So what’s going on??

It isn’t clear but ever since Ladakh became a flashpoint, various government agencies have been talking up Chinese espionage. In August, the Income Tax department arrested a Chinese national for spying—financed by money laundering to the tune of Rs 300 crore. The person had been out on bail for similar charges filed last year—which is strange given the serious allegations.

Also: almost any Chinese activity triggers a flurry of accusations. For example: A research proposal by a Chinese think tank that looks at why Nepali Gorkhas join the Indian Army. Or a joint Nepal-China effort to measure the true height of Mount Everest.

So is any of this true?

There is no denying Beijing’s powerful and all-pervasive intelligence activities (see our explainer on Zhenhua). And ever since Beijing has taken a more aggressive stance, governments around the world are sitting up and paying closer attention. There have been a flurry of recent sweeps in the US and Australia. 

Unfortunately, our government is also prone to exaggerating the dreaded ‘foreign hand’ to suit its interests. And the Delhi police has an extremely dubious arrest record (See: our explainer on Umar Khalid). So it’s no surprise that the usually more reserved Press Club of India came out swinging in defense of its member—citing “the dubious track record of the Special Branch”:

“On the basis of the statement of the police released to the media, we have no hesitation in saying that the police action is high-handed, and may be inspired by obscure or questionable considerations.”

The organisation also cited a list of previous such arrests that turned out to be bogus.

The bottomline: It’s strange that the Delhi police would arrest Sharma,a run-of-the-mill columnist—and put on a dog-and-pony show to publicise it. It is strange that there is no talk of even investigating the source of his classified information. It is strange that intelligence agencies are not involved in this investigation. But then again, we live in exceedingly strange times.

Reading list

The Print and The Wire have the best overview of Sharma’s case. The Telegraph identifies the key puzzling questions. Read the Press Club’s statement here. The Hoot interviews Syed Iftikhar Gilani—a Kashmiri journalist who was falsely accused of being a Pakistani spy and kept in prison for seven months. He also explains what’s wrong with the Official Secrets Act. For more: The Week on increased worries about Chinese think tanks in Nepal.