A civilian defence Worker was taken into custody for giving classified data to a Pakistan Military Intelligence (MI) unit after he had been honey-trapped on Facebook.
Official sources disclosed to IANS that dependent on a particular contribution of Lucknow based Indian Military Intelligence (MI), the Haryana Police’s Special Task Force (STF) on Wednesday captured Mahesh Kumar, the defence worker of Military Engineering Services (MES), from Rewari for sharing the data to a young lady connected with the Pakistan Military MI in return for cash.
Kumar, as indicated by police, was allegedly in contact with agents of the Pakistani MI unit for the last two years and a half year and has gotten cash from them on numerous events.
Sources stated that in June, Lucknow MI got the info that a phone number utilized by defence Worker Kumar, a who was posted in Jaipur, was giving defence related data to a lady working for Pakistan military.
Kumar used the word “Madamji” to address the Pakistani operative.
An operation code-named “Operation Madamji” was dispatched by the MI unit to distinguish the suspect and discover the veracity of the info.
After investigation, Kumar functioned as a regular citizen cleaning staff in MES Jaipur and was friends with at least three known and settled Pakistani Intelligence Operative (PIO)- operated Facebook accounts.
Sources said that Kumar had gotten at least two instalments of Rs 5,000, each from his Pakistani handlers through Kerala.
The instalment module was fundamentally the same as what had surfaced in the Rajasthan based reconnaissance case, ‘Operation Desert Chase’, wherein Vikas Kumar and Chiman Lal were captured.
In the first seven days of September, Kumar was found remaining in and around Rewari.
The MI shared the case details with the STF Haryana and a joint group of both the offices researched it further.
A quick operation to catch and question the suspect was anticipated for September 13-14.
Anyway, before the Lucknow MI could acquire wanted authorizes and place a group close to Rewari, the suspect unexpectedly moved out of Haryana, the sources stated.
The STF Haryana as of late indicated that Kumar was probably going to visit Rewari again on Wednesday.
Accordingly, STF Haryana and Lucknow and Jaipur units of MI established another arrangement to capture him.
After his capture on Wednesday evening, Kumar’s cell phone was seized and he was taken for his first assessment and interrogation.
The charged was exposed to joint interrogation by the groups of MI Lucknow, STF Haryana and MI Jaipur.
Official sources stated during, interrogation. Kumar confessed to having sent a friend request to a Facebook account with the handle ‘Harleen Gill’ in July 2018.
They became friends on Facebook and used to converse through text and sound/video chats by the means of Messenger.
The account was controlled by a PIO, a young lady, possibly in her 30s who professed to be working with the Principal Controller of Defense Accounts (PCDA) office in Jalandhar.
In any case, the PIO’s Facebook account ‘Harleen Gill’ deactivated following a few months.
Afterwards, he got a friend request from the exact same PIO in 2019, this time from a Facebook account with the handle of ‘Harman Kour’.
They began conversing on Facebook messenger and later moved to WhatsApp.
Kumar was found to have been in contact with at least two WhatsApp numbers of the PIO. They used to trade text and sound messages between them over WhatsApp and furthermore used to video call.
Sources said he conceded before the police that he had shared the ORBAT of a Jaipur based Army Brigade, information of some senior officials in Jaipur, area of PCDA Jaipur, information of MES compliant records, COVID-19 condition of the Jaipur cantonment and a posting request of civilian MES workers.
He used to accumulate movement-related data by hitting discussions with service workforce coming to Jaipur MES office for different purposes. He likewise confessed to having activated a WhatsApp number for the PIO by sharing OTP in 2019. Anyway, he asserts that he took it back inside a few days.
The PIO used to request him to send contacts from other serving staff in Jaipur and Bikaner, information of units moving in or out of Jaipur, posting information of different MES representatives.
To bait him more, the PIO once guaranteed him that she will get him posted to Delhi.
Kumar confessed to having passed on his Punjab National Bank account details to the PIO and to have gotten Rs 5,000 twice in his record as a gift from her in September 2019 and January 2020.
Anyway, it is suspected that he had gotten cash from the PIO on a few events, sources said.
Despite the fact that the charged is a cleaning staff in MES Jaipur whose essential assignment is to clean workplaces there, he was found to have photographs of a few messages and data in his cell phone including some with security classification and some giving out the information of all sub-units and all units in Jaipur Cantonment. He additionally had photographs of COVID-19 related booklets and a rundown of MES workers with their phone numbers in his handset.
The charged was found to have erased every one of his conversations with PIOs. It appears during the two and half years of correspondence with the PIO the charged has passed more than what he is admitting, sources said.
His cell phone was sent for forensic extraction and it is found out that STF has discovered numerous records in it that he shouldn’t keep. Aside from that hints of his correspondence and entry of data to the PIO were additionally figured to have been found.
The charged was presented before the Duty Magistrate on Wednesday night. He has been charged under infringement of Official Secret Act and an FIR has been filed on Thursday.
He is expected to be presented under the steady gaze of a court in Rewar in the wake of going through a COVID-19 test.
The Haryana STF may request police remand for a couple of more days for additional investigation concerning the case and to finish the formalities.
