An Indian Navy sailor has been arrested for allegedly leaking classified maritime intelligence to a Pakistani intelligence operative through a social media-based “honey-trap” operation, officials said on Sunday.
The Andhra Pradesh Police Counter Intelligence (CI) cell arrested 31-year-old Pradeep Mukherjee on October 3 at INS Agrani, a naval leadership training facility in Coimbatore.
Mukherjee, a native of West Bengal, joined the Navy in 2014 and was posted with the Eastern Naval Command in Visakhapatnam. He was attending a management development course at the Coimbatore facility and had been there for about a week when he was arrested.
According to officials, a female Pakistani intelligence operative had contacted Mukherjee on social media several months ago and gradually developed an online relationship with him. The operative allegedly used the relationship to obtain sensitive information about strategic naval assets, fleet movements and the operational framework of the Visakhapatnam naval base.
The CI cell, which probes cross-border espionage and terror threats, launched an investigation after detecting suspicious digital activity linked to Mukherjee. He was subsequently placed under surveillance before his arrest.
(With inputs from PTI)
