Mahesh Kumar, 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.
On Sept 16 , Lucknow based Military Intelligence (MI), the Special Task Force (STF) of the Haryana Police arrested Kumar. As reportedly he was in touch with operatives of the Pakistani Military intelligence unit.
The STF said it had received an alert that Kumar was in touch with a Pakistani intelligence operative since the past two and a half years and has received money from them on multiple occasions and was passing classified information through WhatsApp and Facebook.
Earlier in June, the Lucknow MI received an input that the user of a mobile number, used by Kumar, likely a Military Engineering Services employee, was sharing sensitive military content to a young woman named “Madam ji” that was too associated with Pakistani MI in return for money. Later the operation code-named “Operation Madamji” was launched by the MI unit to identify the suspect.
As MI excavated the case, details emerged that Mahesh Kumar received at least two payments of Rs 5000 each from his Pakistani handlers via Kerala.
The DIG (STF) Satheesh Balan said, “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.”The phone had been sent for a forensic analysis while Kumar had been handed over to cops.
Mahesh 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, location of PCDA, Jaipur, details of MES complaint records, details of some senior officers in Jaipur, Covid-19 status of Jaipur cantonment and a posting order of civilian MES staff.
Police said that 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. Where they exchanged their numbers and started video calling and chatting. Kumar used to address her as “madam ji”.
Military intelligence of the Lucknow unit received information about Kumar’s social media activity earlier this month and informed Haryana STF. Later, a team from MI Lucknow and MI Jaipur interrogated him.
Kumar said he used to communicate with Harleen through text and audio-video chat on 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 as informed by the officers. He communicated Harman on Facebook messenger and later on WhatsApp. He was in touch with the woman on at least two WhatsApp numbers that he had. They used to exchange text and audio messages, along with video chat.
Lucknow MI first received information in June this year that a mobile user registered in the name of Mahesh Kumar was sharing important and sensitive military content with a woman associated with Pakistani MI.
Mahesh Kumar, 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.
On Sept 16 , Lucknow based Military Intelligence (MI), the Special Task Force (STF) of the Haryana Police arrested Kumar. As reportedly he was in touch with operatives of the Pakistani Military intelligence unit.
The STF said it had received an alert that Kumar was in touch with a Pakistani intelligence operative since the past two and a half years and has received money from them on multiple occasions and was passing classified information through WhatsApp and Facebook.
Earlier in June, the Lucknow MI received an input that the user of a mobile number, used by Kumar, likely a Military Engineering Services employee, was sharing sensitive military content to a young woman named “Madam ji” that was too associated with Pakistani MI in return for money. Later the operation code-named “Operation Madamji” was launched by the MI unit to identify the suspect.
As MI excavated the case, details emerged that Mahesh Kumar received at least two payments of Rs 5000 each from his Pakistani handlers via Kerala.
The DIG (STF) Satheesh Balan said, “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.”The phone had been sent for a forensic analysis while Kumar had been handed over to cops.
Mahesh 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, location of PCDA, Jaipur, details of MES complaint records, details of some senior officers in Jaipur, Covid-19 status of Jaipur cantonment and a posting order of civilian MES staff.
Police said that 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. Where they exchanged their numbers and started video calling and chatting. Kumar used to address her as “madam ji”.
Military intelligence of the Lucknow unit received information about Kumar’s social media activity earlier this month and informed Haryana STF. Later, a team from MI Lucknow and MI Jaipur interrogated him.
Kumar said he used to communicate with Harleen through text and audio-video chat on 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 as informed by the officers. He communicated Harman on Facebook messenger and later on WhatsApp. He was in touch with the woman on at least two WhatsApp numbers that he had. They used to exchange text and audio messages, along with video chat.
Lucknow MI first received information in June this year that a mobile user registered in the name of Mahesh Kumar was sharing important and sensitive military content with a woman associated with Pakistani MI.
Mahesh Kumar, 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.
On Sept 16 , Lucknow based Military Intelligence (MI), the Special Task Force (STF) of the Haryana Police arrested Kumar. As reportedly he was in touch with operatives of the Pakistani Military intelligence unit.
The STF said it had received an alert that Kumar was in touch with a Pakistani intelligence operative for the past two and a half years and has received money from them on multiple occasions and was passing classified information through WhatsApp and Facebook.
Earlier in June, the Lucknow MI received an input that the user of a mobile number, used by Kumar, likely a Military Engineering Services employee, was sharing sensitive military content to a young woman named “Madam ji” that was too associated with Pakistani MI in return for money. Later the operation code-named “Operation Madamji” was launched by the MI unit to identify the suspect.
As MI excavated the case, details emerged that Mahesh Kumar received at least two payments of Rs 5000 each from his Pakistani handlers via Kerala.
The DIG (STF) Satheesh Balan said, “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.”The phone had been sent for a forensic analysis while Kumar had been handed over to cops.
Mahesh 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, location of PCDA, Jaipur, details of MES complaint records, details of some senior officers in Jaipur, Covid-19 status of Jaipur cantonment and a posting order of civilian MES staff.
Police said that 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. Where they exchanged their numbers and started video calling and chatting. Kumar used to address her as “madam ji”.
Military intelligence of the Lucknow unit received information about Kumar’s social media activity earlier this month and informed Haryana STF. Later, a team from MI Lucknow and MI Jaipur interrogated him.
Kumar said he used to communicate with Harleen through text and audio-video chat on 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 as informed by the officers. He communicated Harman on Facebook messenger and later on WhatsApp. He was in touch with the woman on at least two WhatsApp numbers that he had. They used to exchange text and audio messages, along with video chat.
Lucknow MI first received information in June this year that a mobile user registered in the name of Mahesh Kumar was sharing important and sensitive military content with a woman associated with Pakistani MI.