New Delhi: The Crime Branch of the Delhi police has nabbed a dismissed Air Force official on charges of spying and allegedly sharing secret documents with Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI.
The accused, identified as Ranjith, was a Leading Aircraft man with the Indian Air Force posted at Bhatinda and was dismissed and court-martialled on Monday after security agencies presented the force with actionable evidence against him, police said.
Initial investigations have revealed that Ranjith was honey-trapped into espionage by a woman whom he met through Facebook in 2012. Ranjith was allegedly lured into sharing some sensitive details through an attractive picture and a Skype session.
Ranjith, who usually carried two mobile phones, was quite active on WhatsApp, Facebook and Skype.
According to sources, Ranjith had shared some technical details of the Air Force, including flight routes, aircraft movement and maps of Air Force stations in Delhi, Chennai and Belgaum. The information was shared with an ISI-backed espionage ring through emails and inter-based text messages.
He had also received a few VOIP based calls on his mobile number in which the other party, a female with British accent, introduced herself as Damini McNaught and posed as an executive of a UK-based news magazine.
She even interviewed LAC Ranjith and then assigned him the task of getting the information. She deceived him by saying that the information will be published and he will get due monetary benefits for this.
Ranjith was arrested in Bathinda on Monday and brought to Delhi where he was produced before the Patiala House court. The court has sent Ranjith into judicial custody for four days.
Ranjith's arrest comes close to another ISI-backed espionage racket cracked by the Crime Branch. Five persons including a serving and former army personnel and a serving BSF personnel were arrested in connection with the case.
Fictitious accounts in the name of girls have become a common practice to identify, befriend and lure defence personnel in to an espionage network, as was the case with Ranjith.
No link has been established so far between Ranjith's arrest and those made earlier.
(With Agency inputs)
