New Delhi, January 13: The Indian Army on Sunday confirmed the arrest of its jawan by Rajasthan Police on January 4, alleged for espionage and sharing confidential information related to the army with a Pakistani ISI woman in Jaisalmer. The senior official of the Indian Army also informed that all assistance to civilian authorities in the investigation is being provided.

Informing about the development, Defence PRO Col Sambit Ghosh said that the 22-year-old jawan was apprehended and interrogated by intelligence agencies for over four months after he was found to be in touch with Pakistani ISI operatives on social media. The spokesperson also said that fill co-operation with Rajasthan police and investigative agencies are being made. Suspected Pakistani Spy Arrested by Indian Army Near LAC in Arunachal Pradesh.

Earlier, the state police presented the jawan before the metropolitan magistrate court which sent him to police remand till January 19. Identified as Sombeer, the jawan was posted at 75 armed battalion in Jaisalmer district and was in contact with a woman, suspected to be an ISI agent. Based on the intelligence inputs, he was arrested by the special branch of Rajasthan police.

According to the police, the jawan was honey-trapped by suspected ISI agent, Chadam, who created an account on social media through which sharing of strategic information related to the Indian army were done. Adding more, police informed that the accused shared the secrets in the lure of money and had been arrested under relevant sections of Officials Secret Act, 1923.

To investigate the matter, a joint interrogation team of state and military intelligence was constituted, which interrogated the accused based on the initial inputs they had.

Police had confirmed that the whole incident of conversations and sharing of secrets data started via Facebook, when the resident of Maharajpur town of Rohtak district in Haryana received a friend request from Pakistani agent. They soon started chatting through text messages, phone calls, and video calls. Police claim that information related to strategic places in the bordering area was shared with the woman.

This is not the first case of Indian jawans being honey-trapped by women ISI agents. Earlier too, several soldiers and officials have reportedly been honey-trapped similarly.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 13, 2019 12:27 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).