The Qatari government has started the trial of eight former Indian naval personnel on “espionage” charges. They are accused of spying on Qatar’s secret programme to buy state-of-the-art Italian-made submarines for a country, according to The Print and other Indian media.

“The first hearing of the case was on 29th March. Next hearing is coming up on the May 3rd. As far as I’m aware, the charges have not been shared so far or conveyed so far,” said Indian Ministry of External Affairs’ spokesperson Arindam Bagchi in response to a query regarding the detainees at a press briefing on April 20.

These retired officers were working for a private company, Dahra Global Technologies and Consultancy, which works with the Qatari defence forces. They were reportedly engaged in conducting naval exercises. Indian media reports said that they were arrested by the Qatari intelligence service from Doha on August 30, 2022.

They are Captain Navtej Singh Gill, Captain Saurabh Vashisht, Commander Purenendu Tiwari, Captain Birendra Kumar Verma, Commander Sugunakar Pakala, Commander Sanjeev Gupta, Commander Amit Nagpal and Sailor Rajesh.

The arrests first came to light with the tweet of Dr Meetu Bhargava, sister of retired Commander Purnendu Tiwari, The Times of India reported last year. He has been in Doha since 2013, training Qatar’s Navy personnel, the newspaper said.

“Our Embassy has been facilitating regular visits of the family members. And of course, let me reiterate, we attach a very high priority to the case,” said the Indian external ministry’s spokesperson.

“We are working to ensure the release and repatriation of our nationals,” said Bagchi and did not comment on “speculative” media reports.

Last week, the ministry said India would not “put pressure on Qatar” or interfere but was keeping a “close watch” on the Qatari legal process. Bagchi said confirmed that the hearing in the case has commenced and that India has asked for another round of consular access to the men.

The Arab country has thrice granted consular access to the captive former officials.

According to The Print, Qatar’s intelligence agency, Qatar State Security, said it has secretly intercepted some electronic communications that prove the former Indian Navy officers were spying on the submarine programme. This alleged evidence has not yet been handed over to India.

Submarines

Qatar has ordered two submarines, four small warships and one helicopter carrier from Trieste-based shipbuilder Fincantieri as part of its naval modernisation plan. This is part of a memorandum of understanding signed between the two sides in 2020.

“The programmes indicated in the MOU include, among others, the design, construction and management of the naval base, whole warship fleet management, the application of new technologies such as digital radar and cybersecurity, as well as the supply of cutting-edge naval vessels and submarines,” said the press release.

The exterior of such submarines uses a metamaterial that makes it difficult to detect at sea, BBC Urdu reported. The submarines were being built at a factory in Bergamo in collaboration with submarine maker Cabi Cattaneo.

The Qatari submarines might be part of a much larger 5 billion euro deal with Italy which was agreed upon in 2017.

“The details of these submarines were kept very secret. Even its design was never made public. The company that made them gave a presentation to the Italian Ministry of Defense in 2021 which also showed a computer-generated design instead of their original design,” the news outlet added.