5 days ago
Engineer working for defence firm honeytrapped, held for passing sensitive info to Pak operative
THE MAHARASHTRA Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Thursday arrested a 27-year-old engineer from Thane for allegedly passing on sensitive documents related to the Indian Naval dockyard to a Pakistan Intelligence Operative (PIO) through social media.
An official said it was a case of honeytrap where the accused, identified as Ravi Verma who was working with a private defence technology company, was contacted by a woman on social media, who eventually lured him into handing over sensitive documents of the naval dockyard that he had access to.
An official said based on their investigation, Verma, who was working for the Navi Mumbai-based defence company, was contacted by a PIO on Facebook through a woman's profile. The woman spoke to him via social media and later exchanged phone numbers. The accused then passed on some documents that he had access to the PIO through Whatsapp.
'From Mid November 2024 to March 2025, the accused sent various documents of restricted areas in the Indian Navy dockyard that he had access to through the company where he was working,' the official added.
'The Thane ATS had him on their radar for some time and eventually we called him for questioning earlier this week. Based on his interrogation and technical proofs we got from his mobile phone, he was placed under arrest,' the official added
The accused was produced before a court and sent to police custody till June 2. Police are on the lookout for two others who have been named as accused in the matter.
