CHANDIGARH: A 15-year-old boy, described as “highly intelligent,” has been arrested by the Punjab police for allegedly sharing information and photographs of sensitive defence installations with handlers based in Pakistan, including the ISI and Pakistani military officers.
Sources said the minor had been in contact with Pakistani handlers through an online chat room. He is reportedly suffering from bipolar disorder and will be tried under juvenile laws. The Pakistani agents had allegedly created a clone of the boy’s mobile phone. “Whatever information was received by him from outside sources was also received by Pakistanis,” said a police officer.
Senior Superintendent of Police of Pathankot, Daljinder Singh Dhillon, said the minor had been in contact with Pakistani agencies for nearly a year. “The accused had mastered complex mobile phone functions. We are still ascertaining how much damage he may have inflicted, as he stayed in the chat room with ISI agents for days together,” he said.
Dhillon further stated that agencies across the border allegedly radicalised the boy within days of his joining the chat room. “The ISI agents sent him a link that turned out to be a chat room used by them to attract youngsters from India. His handlers told him that his father had been killed under adverse circumstances and that he should be prepared to take revenge,” he said, adding that investigations found no evidence to support that claim.
“We arrested him after receiving information that he had been supplying details related to the security of our nation to the front organisations of terror agencies, including the ISI and Pakistani military officers. His handlers allegedly told the boy that he could take revenge by sending photographs of Army and Air Force installations through a social media platform,” Dhillon said.
Police stated that the teenager allegedly shared videos of sensitive locations and was also in touch with gangsters in Pakistan who were running a terror module.
The police have launched a drive urging parents to monitor their children’s mobile phone usage. A preliminary probe suggests that Pakistani agents are in contact with several other boys from Punjab, Haryana, and Jammu and Kashmir.