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Ops Madamji: Honey trapped by Pak Military on Facebook, MES employee held
Kamaljit Kaur Sandhu: New Delhi : September 17, 2020
Accused Mahesh Kumar (left) and screengrab of the fake profile of Pakistani Intelligence Operative (right)
An employee of Military Engineering Services has been arrested in Rewari, Haryana for allegedly passing classified information to Pakistani Military Intelligence (MI) after he was honey-trapped on Facebook. In a joint operation of Military Intelligence (MI) Lucknow and STF Haryana, one civilian employee of Military Engineering Services (MES) was arrested in Rewari, Haryana for passing classified information to a Pakistani Military Intelligence unit after getting honey-trapped on Facebook.
He was reportedly in touch with operatives of the Pakistani MI unit for two and a half years. He has allegedly received money on multiple occasions. Examination of his mobile device and his joint interrogation is in progress. In the month of June, Lucknow MI had received an input that user of a mobile number, used by Mahesh Kumar, a Military Engineering Services (MES) employee posted in Jaipur, Rajasthan is sharing sensitive military information to a young woman associated with Pakistani MI in return of money. It was learnt that he addressed the Pakistani operative as "Madamji".
An operation code-named "Ops Madamji" was launched by the MI unit to identify the suspect and ascertain the veracity of the input. It was found that 28-years-old Rewari resident Mahesh Kumar is a cleaning staff at MES Jaipur and is friends with at least three known and established Pakistani Intelligence Operative (PIO)-run Facebook accounts.
As MI unearthed the case, details emerged that Mahesh Kumar received at least two payments of Rs 5000 each from his Pakistani handlers via Kerala. In the first week of September, Mahesh Kumar was found staying in and around Rewari, Haryana. The case was shared with STF Haryana and a joint team of both the agencies was formed. A swift operation to apprehend and interrogate the suspect was planned for September 13 and 14. However, before Lucknow MI could obtain desired sanctions and place a team near Rewari, the suspect suddenly moved out of Haryana.
Subsequently, STF Haryana indicated that the suspect is likely to visit Rewari again on Wednesday. Hence a fresh plan was worked out for Thursday and Friday. Jaipur based MI unit also joined the investigation.
After the arrival of the suspect in Rewari on Wednesday, the STF team learnt that he has plans to leave Haryana by afternoon. However, he was apprehended by STF Haryana on Wednesday afternoon along with his mobile and was taken for initial examination and questioning. The accused was subjected to joint questioning by the teams of MI Lucknow, STF Haryana and MI Jaipur.
During questioning Mahesh Kumar admitted to be in contact with known PIO-run Facebook account in the name of 'Harleen Gill' in July 2018. He was the one who had sent the friend request to the PIO run account. They became friends on Facebook and used to communicate through text and audio or video chat on Facebook messenger. The account was run by a young woman, likely in her thirties who claimed to be working with Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (PCDA) office in Jalandhar. The PIO's Facebook account (in name of 'Harleen Gill') subsequently got deactivated.
Later, he got a friend request from the same PIO in 2019 this time from a Facebook account with the name of 'Harman Kour'. They started communicating on Facebook messenger and later established contact on WhatsApp. The accused was found to have been in touch with at least two WhatsApp numbers of the PIO. They used to exchange text and audio messages between them over WhatsApp and also used to video chat.
He accepted to have shared the ORBAT (Order of Battle, terminology for field formation) of a Jaipur based Army Brigade, details of some senior officers in Jaipur, location of PCDA Jaipur, details of MES complaint records, Covid19 state of the Jaipur cantonment and a posting order of civilian MES employees. He used to gather movement-related information from by striking conversation with service personnel coming to Jaipur MES office for various purposes. He also accepted to have activated a WhatsApp number for the PIO by sharing a one time password (OTP) in 2019. However, he claims that he took it back within a couple of days.
The PIO used to ask him to send contacts of other serving personnel in Jaipur/Bikaner, details of units moving out or coming in of/to Jaipur, state of Covid-19 in Jaipur cantonment posting details of other MES employees. To lure him, the PIO once assured the accused that she shall get him posted to Delhi. Mahesh Kumar admitted that he passed on his Punjab National Bank account details to the PIO and received Rs 5,000/- twice in the bank account as a gift from her in September 2019 and Jan 2020. However, it is suspected that he had received money from the PIO on more number of occasions. Further investigation in this regard is in progress.
Through the accused is a cleaning staff in MES Jaipur whose primary task is to clean offices there, he was found to have photos of several letters/notices in his mobile including some with security classification and some giving out the details of all unit/sub-units in Jaipur Cantonment. He also had photos of Covid-19 related circulars and list of MES employees with their mobile numbers in his handset. The accused was found to have deleted all his chats with PIOs. The agencies believe that in these two and half years, the accused has passed more than what he has confessed too.
His mobile phone was sent for forensic extraction and it is learnt that STF has found many documents in it that he was not supposed to keep. Traces of his communication and passage of information to the PIO have been found as well. The accused was produced before the Duty Magistrate on Wednesdat. He has been booked under violation of Official Secret Act in Dharuhera police station. While several instructions and policies are being formulated and passed at regular interval by defence authorities for making all ranks aware about the nuances of the Pakistani espionage network, it seems many are still getting carried away and getting honey-trapped on social media by Pakistani agencies.
www.indiatoday.in
Kamaljit Kaur Sandhu: New Delhi : September 17, 2020
Accused Mahesh Kumar (left) and screengrab of the fake profile of Pakistani Intelligence Operative (right)
An employee of Military Engineering Services has been arrested in Rewari, Haryana for allegedly passing classified information to Pakistani Military Intelligence (MI) after he was honey-trapped on Facebook. In a joint operation of Military Intelligence (MI) Lucknow and STF Haryana, one civilian employee of Military Engineering Services (MES) was arrested in Rewari, Haryana for passing classified information to a Pakistani Military Intelligence unit after getting honey-trapped on Facebook.
He was reportedly in touch with operatives of the Pakistani MI unit for two and a half years. He has allegedly received money on multiple occasions. Examination of his mobile device and his joint interrogation is in progress. In the month of June, Lucknow MI had received an input that user of a mobile number, used by Mahesh Kumar, a Military Engineering Services (MES) employee posted in Jaipur, Rajasthan is sharing sensitive military information to a young woman associated with Pakistani MI in return of money. It was learnt that he addressed the Pakistani operative as "Madamji".
An operation code-named "Ops Madamji" was launched by the MI unit to identify the suspect and ascertain the veracity of the input. It was found that 28-years-old Rewari resident Mahesh Kumar is a cleaning staff at MES Jaipur and is friends with at least three known and established Pakistani Intelligence Operative (PIO)-run Facebook accounts.
As MI unearthed the case, details emerged that Mahesh Kumar received at least two payments of Rs 5000 each from his Pakistani handlers via Kerala. In the first week of September, Mahesh Kumar was found staying in and around Rewari, Haryana. The case was shared with STF Haryana and a joint team of both the agencies was formed. A swift operation to apprehend and interrogate the suspect was planned for September 13 and 14. However, before Lucknow MI could obtain desired sanctions and place a team near Rewari, the suspect suddenly moved out of Haryana.
Subsequently, STF Haryana indicated that the suspect is likely to visit Rewari again on Wednesday. Hence a fresh plan was worked out for Thursday and Friday. Jaipur based MI unit also joined the investigation.
After the arrival of the suspect in Rewari on Wednesday, the STF team learnt that he has plans to leave Haryana by afternoon. However, he was apprehended by STF Haryana on Wednesday afternoon along with his mobile and was taken for initial examination and questioning. The accused was subjected to joint questioning by the teams of MI Lucknow, STF Haryana and MI Jaipur.
During questioning Mahesh Kumar admitted to be in contact with known PIO-run Facebook account in the name of 'Harleen Gill' in July 2018. He was the one who had sent the friend request to the PIO run account. They became friends on Facebook and used to communicate through text and audio or video chat on Facebook messenger. The account was run by a young woman, likely in her thirties who claimed to be working with Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (PCDA) office in Jalandhar. The PIO's Facebook account (in name of 'Harleen Gill') subsequently got deactivated.
Later, he got a friend request from the same PIO in 2019 this time from a Facebook account with the name of 'Harman Kour'. They started communicating on Facebook messenger and later established contact on WhatsApp. The accused was found to have been in touch with at least two WhatsApp numbers of the PIO. They used to exchange text and audio messages between them over WhatsApp and also used to video chat.
He accepted to have shared the ORBAT (Order of Battle, terminology for field formation) of a Jaipur based Army Brigade, details of some senior officers in Jaipur, location of PCDA Jaipur, details of MES complaint records, Covid19 state of the Jaipur cantonment and a posting order of civilian MES employees. He used to gather movement-related information from by striking conversation with service personnel coming to Jaipur MES office for various purposes. He also accepted to have activated a WhatsApp number for the PIO by sharing a one time password (OTP) in 2019. However, he claims that he took it back within a couple of days.
The PIO used to ask him to send contacts of other serving personnel in Jaipur/Bikaner, details of units moving out or coming in of/to Jaipur, state of Covid-19 in Jaipur cantonment posting details of other MES employees. To lure him, the PIO once assured the accused that she shall get him posted to Delhi. Mahesh Kumar admitted that he passed on his Punjab National Bank account details to the PIO and received Rs 5,000/- twice in the bank account as a gift from her in September 2019 and Jan 2020. However, it is suspected that he had received money from the PIO on more number of occasions. Further investigation in this regard is in progress.
Through the accused is a cleaning staff in MES Jaipur whose primary task is to clean offices there, he was found to have photos of several letters/notices in his mobile including some with security classification and some giving out the details of all unit/sub-units in Jaipur Cantonment. He also had photos of Covid-19 related circulars and list of MES employees with their mobile numbers in his handset. The accused was found to have deleted all his chats with PIOs. The agencies believe that in these two and half years, the accused has passed more than what he has confessed too.
His mobile phone was sent for forensic extraction and it is learnt that STF has found many documents in it that he was not supposed to keep. Traces of his communication and passage of information to the PIO have been found as well. The accused was produced before the Duty Magistrate on Wednesdat. He has been booked under violation of Official Secret Act in Dharuhera police station. While several instructions and policies are being formulated and passed at regular interval by defence authorities for making all ranks aware about the nuances of the Pakistani espionage network, it seems many are still getting carried away and getting honey-trapped on social media by Pakistani agencies.
Ops Madamji: Honey trapped by Pak Military on Facebook, MES employee held
An employee of Military Engineering Services has been arrested in Haryana after he was allegedly honey-trapped on Facebook by Pakistan Military.
