The arrest of a young couple in Delhi on Friday has put the spotlight back on espionage rackets run by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in India.
A close study of such recent cases points to an organised and meticulously planned operation tied together by at least three common threads—online entrapment, honeytrapping, and scouting for information related to India's defence assets and infrastructure, according to officials privy to the developments.
Social media used to find targets
In the hunt for targets, it is believed that Pakistani agents scan Indian social media profiles to zero in on defence or government officials in uniform, or even civilians showing signs of vulnerability.
Once targets are identified, they are approached using accounts operated through mostly Indian SIM cards. Conversations that start on a friendly note from accounts flashing women's photos can spiral quickly—and those who take the bait and share intimate photos can then be pressured to share sensitive information or aid espionage operations.
For example, in the Delhi case, Mohammad Sahil, 25, and his wife Sameera, 21, allegedly procured eight Indian SIM cards and sent them to Pakistan via Dubai between 2024 and 2025. These SIM cards, investigators said, were used to activate WhatsApp accounts from Pakistan and access Indian groups to gather sensitive information.
Nudity as bait for extracting crucial info
{{/usCountry}}For example, in the Delhi case, Mohammad Sahil, 25, and his wife Sameera, 21, allegedly procured eight Indian SIM cards and sent them to Pakistan via Dubai between 2024 and 2025. These SIM cards, investigators said, were used to activate WhatsApp accounts from Pakistan and access Indian groups to gather sensitive information.
Nudity as bait for extracting crucial info
{{/usCountry}}When it comes to Indian defence or government officials, honeytrapping appears to be a go-to option in the ISI playbook. Even though active surveillance by Indian agencies and law enforcement foils many such plots, some still fall prey.
A serving Indian Air Force (IAF) Wing Commander, arrested in May, has been accused of leaking sensitive information to Pakistani agents after being honeytrapped. One nude for one page of combat plan—that was what the person he was chatting with promised, according to officials privy to the probe. The IAF official is also accused of installing data-stealing software on a colleague's mobile phone.
Also read: Honey-trap gang operating fake police outpost in Meerut busted; two arrested
In another widely reported case, former Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) scientist Pradeep Kurulkar, 62, has been charged with passing sensitive information to a Pakistani intelligence operative going by the name of "Zara Dasgupta".
Kurulkar, 62, was arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on May 3, 2023. By the end of June that year, officials had prepared an 1,837-page chargesheet over his alleged exchanges with the operative.
Just a year later, in early 2024, Satendra Siwal, an India-based Security Assistant (IBSA) at the Indian Embassy in Moscow since 2021, was arrested for alleged spying after being honeytrapped. He had access to sensitive embassy documents.