The court on Sunday remanded air man Sunil Kumar, accused of passing on information about the Pathankot air base to a suspected Pakistani agent, in 10-day police custody. Kumar was arrested on the charges of spying on Saturday.
Pathankot SSP Rakesh Kaushal, addressing a press conference, claimed that Kumar had revealed that he came into contact with an unidentified person in 2010 when he put his profile and pictures on Orkut and later was contacted by one Meena Raina.
The SSP said the accused was initially contacted through email, but later the agent used technology in which any caller's voice reaches the receiver in a woman's voice, which 'attracted' Kumar.
The accused admitted that the agent posed as a freelancer in some agency which was involved in gathering information about air bases.
Kumar, when warned by colleagues, later refused to be part of this spying exercise, but he was threatened and lured by the agent, after which he started taking money from suspected agents, the SSP said.
His bank accounts have shown that he took money in lakhs, which was being deposited in his and his brothers' accounts in Pathankot and Bengaluru.
{{/usCountry}}His bank accounts have shown that he took money in lakhs, which was being deposited in his and his brothers' accounts in Pathankot and Bengaluru.
{{/usCountry}}As air force officials were keeping an eye on him, Kumar was caught and later handed over to the police for further investigations, the SSP added.
He said Kumar had been booked under sections 415, 417, 418, 420, 465, 467, 468, 471, 120 and 118-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).