Army grills officer over alleged 'honey trap' by Pakistan's ISI

An Army officer has been detained in Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh in connection with a honey trap case. The officer of Lieutenant Colonel rank, currently posted at a workshop in Jabalpur, was detained by the counter intelligence wing of the Indian Army.

He has reportedly been accused of transferring crucial and confidential information of the Indian army to Pakistan's ISI. According to reports, the detained armyman allegedly got into a honey trap by Pakistan’s spy agency ISI and shared information that were confidential.

The name of the officer has not been revealed, but the Army has said that he is being grilled, without confirming honey trap allegations.

"The officer is being questioned after he was picked up from Jabalpur by the Army HQ team last (Tuesday) night," Defence PRO, Allahabad, Wing Commander Arvind Sinha told PTI over phone.

The officer, however, refused to disclose details. "We are not in a position to clarify the exact reason behind this episode at present," Wing Commander Sinha said when asked whether it was a case of ‘honey trap’.

"The officer is being questioned and is under grilling at present," the PRO said. The officer also refused to share whether the Lt. Colonel was taken to Lucknow for further questioning or is in Jabalpur.

Prabhat Khabar reported that the office of the Armyman has been sealed. Several documents and a computer hard drive has also been seized by the Army. There are also reports of huge amount of money being deposited in his account, but there is no official confirmation about the same.

Five days back, special cell of Delhi Police had arrested Group Captain Arun Marwah for allegedly leaking confidential documents to ISI and spying for the Pakistan agency. An agent of ISI disguised as a woman used to chat with him.

What the IAF officer didn't know at the time, is that Pakistan's ISI agents had prepared two fake profiles of Kiran Randhawa and Mahima Patel. The users had images of glamorous fashion models. 

Initially, the chats were limited to comments and likes.

Soon, the chats grew explicit in nature, with the agents using videos to lure Marwah. The ISI, who used proxy servers and VoIP to mask their digital footprint, started saving the chats. 

Three months ago, they agents digitally honeytrapped and threatened to make the chats public.

Instead of informing authorities, Marwah succumbed to their demands. In mid-January, the IAF officer shared top-secret documents related to Defence Cyber Agency, Defence Space Agency and Special Operations with the agency on WhatsApp.