KOCHI: The technician arrested at the Cochin Shipyard for having shared images of Indian Navy ships was not the first target of Angel Payal, the Facebook ‘friend’ to whom the former had relayed sensitive information.
According to the investigators’ preliminary assessment, Angel Payal is a name commonly used by Pakistan-based intelligence operatives who befriend people working at sensitive locations through social media and extract high-value information.
The same name had surfaced in a spying case relating to the leak of information from the Mumbai naval dockyard. The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad had arrested Gaurav Patil, an apprentice at the naval dockyard, on December 13. Patil was alleged to have shared information regarding the movement of Indian Navy ships and sent pictures of the naval dockyard to two women named Payal Angel and Arti Sharma in May 2023, a highly placed source told TNIE.
Following up on the arrest of Patil, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad also apprehended a West Bengal resident, Mukta Mahato, who too was sharing sensitive information with Payal Angel.
“The name has surfaced in several spying cases before. In some places, the name used is Payal Angel, and in some profiles, they use the names Angel Payal, Angel P and Payal A. The preliminary assessment is that these are Pakistan-based intelligence operatives who are active on social media platforms. Other names repeatedly appear in spy cases reported across the country. These methods are used by foreign agencies to garner sensitive information,” the source said.
Sreenish Pookkodan, a contract technician from Manjeri in Malappuram, was arrested on December 20 for capturing the images of an under-construction defence ship and collecting the details of VVIPs at the Cochin Shipyard.
The Ernakulam Town South police, which arrested Sreenish, are awaiting reports from Facebook and the cyber forensic laboratory to assess the details shared by the accused persons to the Pakistan-based intelligence operative.
“During the interrogation, Sreenish said he took the pictures of ships and sensitive places in the shipyard on the insistence of Angel Payal.
However, the mobile phone of the accused is being checked to ascertain the kind of information Sreenish shared with the Pakistan-based intelligence operative,” said an officer.
The police are also checking whether Sreenish received any remuneration for the pictures he shared. The police have collected his bank statements to check for transactions.