GURUGRAM/LUCKNOW: A civilian employee of the Military Engineering Services (MES), Jaipur was arrested by Haryana Police’s special task force (STF) in Rewari for allegedly passing on classified information to a Pakistani military intelligence unit after getting honey-trapped on Facebook.
The STF said it acted on a specific input from military intelligence (MI) to detain Mahesh Kumar (28) from Dharuhera bus stand on Wednesday. Kumar was about to board a bus for Jaipur when he was nabbed. The STF said it had received an alert that Kumar was in touch with a Pakistani intelligence operative and was passing classified information through WhatsApp and Facebook.
Kumar, whose official job description is a cleaner, allegedly took snapshots of classified content in files. He deleted the photos from his phone after sending them to the Pakistani operative, the STF said. Kumar had shared with his handler the ORBAT – the order of battle – of a Jaipur-based Army brigade, details of some senior officers in Jaipur, location of PCDA, Jaipur, details of MES complaint records, Covid-19 status of Jaipur cantonment and a posting order of civilian MES staff.
“We had information from military intelligence. For three days, we kept an eye on him to collect evidence. On Wednesday night, we arrested him and seized his mobile phone,” said DIG (STF) Satheesh Balan, adding the phone has been sent for a forensic analysis while Kumar had been handed over to cops.
An original resident of Rewari, Kumar had come home on leave. Police said Mahesh had received friend requests on Facebook from two accounts named Harleen Gill and Harman Kour run by Pakistani intelligence operatives. He received a friend request from Harleen in July 2018. The account was deactivated after a few weeks. In 2019, he received another friend request from Harman.
They exchanged numbers and started video chats. Kumar used to address her as “madam ji”, police said, adding Kumar had allegedly received money twice – Rs 5,000 each — over the last 5-6 months from his Pakistani handlers via Kerala.
Military intelligence’s Lucknow unit got information about Kumar’s activity earlier this month and informed Haryana STF. Later, a team from MI Lucknow and MI Jaipur interrogated him.
During interrogation, it came to fore that Kumar used to communicate with Harleen through text and audio-video chat on Facebook messenger. The account was being run by a young woman who was based in Pakistan but claimed to be working with the Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (PCDA) office in Jalandhar, said MI officers.
With Harman, too, Kumar started communicating on Facebook messenger and later graduated to WhatsApp. He was found to have been in touch the woman on at least two WhatsApp numbers. They used to exchange text and audio messages, besides video chat.
Lucknow MI first received an input in June this year that a mobile user registered in the name of Mahesh Kumar was sharing sensitive military information with a woman associated with Pakistani MI.
The STF said it acted on a specific input from military intelligence (MI) to detain Mahesh Kumar (28) from Dharuhera bus stand on Wednesday. Kumar was about to board a bus for Jaipur when he was nabbed. The STF said it had received an alert that Kumar was in touch with a Pakistani intelligence operative and was passing classified information through WhatsApp and Facebook.
Kumar, whose official job description is a cleaner, allegedly took snapshots of classified content in files. He deleted the photos from his phone after sending them to the Pakistani operative, the STF said. Kumar had shared with his handler the ORBAT – the order of battle – of a Jaipur-based Army brigade, details of some senior officers in Jaipur, location of PCDA, Jaipur, details of MES complaint records, Covid-19 status of Jaipur cantonment and a posting order of civilian MES staff.
“We had information from military intelligence. For three days, we kept an eye on him to collect evidence. On Wednesday night, we arrested him and seized his mobile phone,” said DIG (STF) Satheesh Balan, adding the phone has been sent for a forensic analysis while Kumar had been handed over to cops.
An original resident of Rewari, Kumar had come home on leave. Police said Mahesh had received friend requests on Facebook from two accounts named Harleen Gill and Harman Kour run by Pakistani intelligence operatives. He received a friend request from Harleen in July 2018. The account was deactivated after a few weeks. In 2019, he received another friend request from Harman.
They exchanged numbers and started video chats. Kumar used to address her as “madam ji”, police said, adding Kumar had allegedly received money twice – Rs 5,000 each — over the last 5-6 months from his Pakistani handlers via Kerala.
Military intelligence’s Lucknow unit got information about Kumar’s activity earlier this month and informed Haryana STF. Later, a team from MI Lucknow and MI Jaipur interrogated him.
During interrogation, it came to fore that Kumar used to communicate with Harleen through text and audio-video chat on Facebook messenger. The account was being run by a young woman who was based in Pakistan but claimed to be working with the Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (PCDA) office in Jalandhar, said MI officers.
With Harman, too, Kumar started communicating on Facebook messenger and later graduated to WhatsApp. He was found to have been in touch the woman on at least two WhatsApp numbers. They used to exchange text and audio messages, besides video chat.
Lucknow MI first received an input in June this year that a mobile user registered in the name of Mahesh Kumar was sharing sensitive military information with a woman associated with Pakistani MI.