In a major security breach, the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) has arrested an ordnance factory worker for allegedly spying for Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The accused, Ravindra Kumar, was reportedly honey-trapped by an ISI handler named ‘Neha' and had been leaking sensitive defence information for an extended period.
Investigation revealed that the accused shared details such as “daily production report,” “receipt of stores,” “the stock that is about to arrive” and other sensitive information such as “details on drones and the Gaganyaan project”.
In a press briefing, ADG UP ATS Nilabja Choudhary said, “ATS UP and their associate agencies got info that there is a person named Ravindra Kumar was sharing different confidential and sensitive information with his Pak ISI handler. So, working on this, our Agra unit did a preliminary interrogation of Ravindra Kumar, and he was called to ATS headquarters for detailed interrogation, where it was proved that he shared very sensitive information through a handler named Neha.”
The official further revealed that ISI has been running similar operations for a long time, targeting individuals to extract crucial defence-related information by honey-trapping them through social media websites.
“…we found out that he shared information with the said handler from time to time, which included the daily production report of the said Ordnance Factory (in which he was working) and the receipt of stores, other documents of criminal circulation, the stock that is about to arrive, the requisition, all were shared,” he said.
The agent who used ‘Neha' to introduce herself contacted Ravindra Kumar on Facebook and also revealed that she worked for the Pakistani intelligence industry. They both exchanged phone numbers and Ravindra saved her number under the name ‘Chandan Store Keeper 2'.
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