Man arrested in Kolkata for passing defence info to Pak intel operatives
Police have found multiple pictures, videos and online chats on his mobile, which were shared with the suspected Pakistani intelligence operatives
The Kolkata Police’s Special Task force on Friday night arrested a man for allegedly sharing information on Indian defence installations in Delhi with Pakistani intelligence operatives who honeytrapped him.
“One Bhakt Banshi Jha, 36, has been arrested from Kolkata on Friday. He fell prey to a honeytrap laid by Pakistani intelligence operatives based in Islamabad and he shared information on defence and other vital installations in the national Capital,” said a senior officer of the STF.
The accused has been booked under various sections of the Official Secrets Act and the Indian Penal Code (IPC). He was produced before the court and sent to police custody till September 6.
A resident of Darbhanga in Bihar, Jha had stayed in Delhi from December 2022 till around April this year. He was working with a logistics company. He had some problem with his employer and left the job. He then shifted to Kolkata where he has been working with a courier company.
He met with a woman on the social media who introduced herself as Arushi Sharma, a resident of Amritsar in Punjab. After some days of messaging on the social networking site they exchanged their mobile numbers and made video calls.
“The woman told Jha that her sister was a defence journalist and needed some information on defence installations. He was asked to download an app. Pictures of vital and military installations taken through that app automatically shared the coordinates with the Pakistani intelligence operative,” said the officer.
Police have recovered many such photographs, videos and online chats from the man’s mobile.
“When we traced the numbers from which he received calls and messages, we found it was based in Islamabad in Pakistan,” said the police officer
