How Indian Navy staffer was lured by Pakistani handler ‘Priya Sharma' into spying

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Vishal Yadav, an Upper Division Clerk at the Nausena Bhavan in Delhi, has been arrested for allegedly spying for Pakistan. A native of Haryana's Rewari, he was approached by a Pakistani handler, who used the alias 'Priya Sharma', for leaking sensitive naval information, including during Operation Sindoor read more
Vishal Yadav has been arrested for allegedly spying for Pakistan. News18 Hindi
A civilian employee posted at the Indian Navy headquarters in Delhi has been arrested for allegedly spying for Pakistan. Vishal Yadav, who was nabbed by the Rajasthan Police's Intelligence Wing in Jaipur, is suspected of leaking classified information to a Pakistani intelligence handler.
He is also accused of sharing details on Operation Sindoor, the strikes by the Indian military on multiple terror sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) last month in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.
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Let's take a closer look.
How 'Priya Sharma' trapped Vishal Yadav
Vishal Yadav worked as an Upper Division Clerk (UDC) in the Directorate of Dockyard at Nausena Bhavan, the naval wing of the Defence Ministry, in Delhi. A native of Haryana's Rewari, he was reportedly addicted to online gaming.
Yadav was approached by his Pakistani handler three years ago on Facebook. He got a friend request from 'Priya Sharma', a fake identity, and he began communicating regularly with the person, intelligence sources told PTI.
Their interactions later shifted to WhatsApp and then Telegram, both of which provide encryption-enabled messages.
As per the NDTV report, Yadav became a target because of his online gaming addiction. The Pakistani handler allegedly convinced him to spy in exchange for money.
According to the police, Yadav first received small sums of Rs 5,000-Rs 6,000 for providing less sensitive information. 'However, the handler allegedly encouraged him to provide more valuable intelligence for higher compensation. That's when Yadav began sharing critical defence-related data,' Inspector General of Police (CID-Security) Vishnu Kant Gupta was quoted as saying by PTI.
'He was lured by money and ended up leaking sensitive information from the Navy headquarters,' the IGP added.
Gupta claimed Yadav has confessed to earning a total of Rs 2 lakh by sharing defence details with the Pakistani handler.
'This included Rs 50,000 for leaking information related to Operation Sindoor,' the IGP said. Some payments were made to him through cryptocurrency. Yadav is said to have used this money for his online gaming addiction.
The police said that forensic analysis of Yadav's phone revealed chat records and documents showing that he had leaked sensitive naval intelligence during Operation Sindoor.
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How police caught Vishal Yadav
Yadav may have come under the police radar during the investigation into Ravi Prakash Meena, a Rajasthan resident arrested in 2022 for allegedly spying for Pakistan. He was a Class 4 employee in the Defence Ministry's Sena Bhawan.
The probe revealed that Meena received money through a cryptocurrency channel in exchange for leaking sensitive information to his Pakistani handler. As intelligence agencies put Meena's cryptocurrency channel under surveillance, they found that Yadav was also being paid through the same route, reported NDTV.
The agencies started monitoring Yadav for over two years before his arrest this week.
'After monitoring his social media activity and confirming his links with a Pakistani handler, he was detained in Jaipur for joint interrogation involving multiple national agencies,' IGP Gupta said, as per PTI.
Yadav is being grilled at a secure facility in Jaipur. Interrogators are trying to determine whether other individuals were involved and the scale of the leak.
Recent arrests for spying
Authorities have recently busted a Pakistani espionage network, arresting some social media influencers on suspicion of spying. YouTubers Jyoti Malhotra and Jasbir Singh are among those sent behind bars in connection with a Pakistan-backed spy network operating in North India.
After Operation Sindoor, India had declared some diplomats at the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi as persona non grata. One of the Pakistani officials, identified as Danish alias Ehsan-ur-Rehman, was in contact with Jyoti Malhotra.
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With inputs from agencies