Soldier honey-trapped by 2 Pak agents arrested for espionage: Rajasthan Police

Rajasthan’s DG Intelligence Umesh Mishra said the soldier shared classified information related to his regiment and videos of army exercise with Pakistani agents through social media

JAIPUR: A young Indian Army soldier posted in Rajasthan has been arrested on charges that he shared classified information relating to his regiment with two women who had honey-trapped him, a senior Rajasthan police officer said on Wednesday.

Accident or crime scene cordon tape, police line do not cross. It is nighttime, emergency lights of police cars flashing blue, red and white in the background. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Director General of Police (Intelligence) Umesh Mishra said the 24-year-old soldier, Shantimoy Rana of West Bengal, was in touch with two women, over social media and WhatsApp. One of them had identified herself as Gurnur Kaur alias Ankita from Uttar Pradesh’s Shahjahanpur and claimed to be working with the Military Engineering Service. The second woman, who called herself Nisha, told Rana that she was with the Military Nursing Service.

Mishra said both of them were operatives of Pakistan’s intelligence agencies.

Rana, who joined the army in 2018, told security agencies that he had been in touch wth the women for a long time, and often spoke to them over WhatsApp’s audio and video calls.

Mishra said the soldier also received money for information of strategic importance including photographs and videos of war exercises that he passed on to the women.

The senior police officer said a case under the Official Secrets Act was registered against the soldier after technical analysis of his mobile phones. He was formally placed under arrest on Tuesday.