Know how Indian diplomats and spies were trapped by outsiders

New Delhi: In the past few decades, several top Indian officials have been accused of leaking sensitive information or falling into honey trap.Here is a list of some known cases: 1. Madhuri Gupta Case: Madhuri Gupta was an Indian diplomat who allegedly passed on sensitive information to Pakistan's ISI. She was posted as Second Secretary (Press and Information) at Indian High Commission in Islamabad. On 22 April, 2010 she was arrested on charges of spying for Pakistan by the Special Cell of Delhi police for passing on sensitive information pertaining to defence to Pakistan's ISI. Gupta has also been charged with breach of trust, criminal conspiracy and various other provisions of the Official Secrets Act. She was in touch with two ISI officials Mobashar Raza Rana and Jamshed, to whom she revealed certain classified information.She also visited Jammu and Kashmir in March 2010 following Rana's instructions to procure the Annual Plan Report of the state, the chargesheet said. In July 2010 the chargesheet was filed and it was clearly mentioned that Madhuri had an affair with the Pakistani spy Jamshed, whom she planned to marry. It is said that at her residence in Islamabad she used computer and a Blackberry phone to be in touch with the two Pakistani spies. After spending 21 months in jail, she was granted bail in January, 2012. The trial is in progress. 2. Samba spy scandal: The Samba military spy scandal was a Cold War military intelligence program which eventually emerged as a scandal in 1979.According to Indian Army, the operation was carried out by Pakistan's Military Intelligence to seek information on Indian Army's positions. 168 active duty army officers and personnel were arrested by the the Indian Army and intelligence agencies on suspicion of working for the Military Intelligence of the Pakistan Army from Samba near Jammu. Between August 24, 1978 and January 23, 1979, 50-odd persons who had worked in the 168 Infantry Brigade and its subordinate units at Samba, 40 km from Jammu on the international border, were arrested on charges of spying for Pakistan at the instance of the Directorate of Military Intelligence (MI). Those arrested included a Brigadier, three Lieutenant Colonels and a number of Majors, Captains, Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs), Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs) and personnel of other ranks, plus 11 civilians who had worked in the Samba sector. All of them were taken into custody. Sarwan Dass and Aya Singh who worked as gunners in the Indian Army self-confessed as Pakistani spies. Sarwan Dass swore an affidavit and appeared at a press conference to admit that he had falsely implicated the men in December 1994. In December 1990 while crossing the India-Pakistan border Aya Singh was shot. The falsely implicated victims received justice only in December 2000, and not fully either. 3. Navy officer Commodore Sukhjinder Singh case: Navy officer Commodore Sukhjinder Singh case was posted in Russia as the head of Indian team overseeing the refit of aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov. He is now being probed for his alleged liaison with a Russian woman between 2005 and 2007. After Singh's objectionable photographs with the unidentified woman surfaced, A board of inquiry was set up against him. The board is now probing whether his "loose moral conduct" and indiscretions have any connections with the Gorshkov deal which has been signed after a lot of negotiations due to the cost hike of the carrier. 4. RAW officer K V Unnikrishnan case: In the history of Indian intelligence, the most written about case was that of RAW officer K V Unnikrishnan who was another Indian officer convicted and punished for falling prey to the charms of a suspected agent in the guise of a Pan Am air hostess. He was then posted at the RAW office in Chennai dealing with the LTTE. He had developed a relationship with an air hostess believed to be an intelligence scion. He was arrested in 1987 and jailed for leaking out sensitive information just ahead of a peace accord signed between India and Sri Lanka. 5. Manmohan Sharma case: Manmohan Sharma, was heading the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) desk at the Indian Embassy in Beijing. As per the reports he was alleged to be in a romantic affair with his Chinese language teacher. Indian authorities suspected the woman could be an informant of the Chinese government and gathered information about India's moves and counter-moves on the border talks. In May 2008 he was called back to New Delhi. 6. Rabinder Singh spy case: The most infamous case which shook RAW out of reverie was that of Rabinder Singh who became a mole of American intelligence agency CIA and flew to the US despite being under RAW surveillance. He now stays in the US. Singh initially worked with the Indian Army and held a very senior position with RAW handling Southeast Asia. By the time the agency sensed his affiliations, Singh escaped to the US through Nepal in 2004.It was believed that Ashok Sathe another RAW official also defected to the US after his mysterious disappearance. Sathe was said to be behind burning down of RAW office in Khurramshahr in Iran. A senior field officer disappeared in London. As attache in Kathmandu, he was alleged to be liaisoning with foreign intelligence agencies in the early 1980s. A senior Intelligence Bureau (IB) official in another case, had an "unauthorised" relationship with a female US consular officer. He was due to take over as the chief of counter-intelligence. He was forced to retire following interrogation as his meetings with her were recorded on camera by the IB. 7. Ravi Nair case: A 1975 batch Research and Analysis Service (RAS) officer was called back from Hong Kong for his 'friendship' with a girl believed to be working for a Chinese spy agency in october 2007. However, In Colombo Ravi Nair was again given a foreign posting where the woman also came and allegedly started staying with him. The officials of other departments, posted at the Indian High Commission, sent reports about Nair to their respective departments paving way for his recall. 8. During the time of prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, an Indian diplomat was trapped by a Russian girl in Moscow. This was the oldest case of honey trapping. The diplomat informed his ambassador about his relationship and the KGB's attempts to blackmail him when the Russian spy agency KGB presented him with the pictures of his activities with the girl. The ambassador raised the issue with Nehru, who was himself in charge of the External Affairs Ministry. Nehru just laughed it off, warning the young diplomat to be more careful in future.