Every single one of the 28 people who have been detained for espionage in Rajasthan since 2019 has been caught, according to the Rajasthan Police.
Riya and Pradeep Kumar have been dating for sixteen months. Although they hadn’t actually met, it didn’t seem to matter. Or that she was a Lieutenant Colonel assigned to a military hospital in Bengaluru and he was an Indian Army gunner stationed in Jodhpur. Hours would pass while they talked, frequently on video chats. Over video conversations, she had already introduced him to her sister. Pradeep adored her utterly. Riya also did.
Pradeep Kumar’s world and his hopes eventually came crashing down in May of this year.
The 24-year-old was taken into custody for assisting a Pakistani snoop. He was told by military intelligence officers that he had stepped right into a honeytrap after they had taken him into custody.
Riya, his girlfriend, worked for Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence and wasn’t an officer in the Indian army. One of the several officers who questioned Pradeep Sharma to assess the harm he had caused recounted how Pradeep did not think the woman who initially contacted him in January 2021 was a spy.
He was informed by Riya that she had been given a desk job, which, according to her, she found difficult to complete and frequently requested assistance, as well as examples of his unit’s documentation to see how it should be done.
There are others who, for love, ended up destroying their lives and endangering national security, according to Rajasthan Police officers. The 28 individuals detained in Rajasthan for spying since 2019 were all caught in honeytraps at some point.
similar to Shantimoy Rana, 24, who had planned to wed at the end of September. He is also imprisoned.
In August 2021, Ankita, the woman who contacted Shantimoy Rana, revealed to him that she was a soldier. He was unaware that she was an agent for Pakistan. Even as a gift, she sent him $5,000, the officer claimed.
A second police officer claimed that the women’s methods of communication followed a pattern. Like the missed call Pradeep Kumar discovered on his phone in January 2021, it frequently began with one. They conversed after he returned the call.
The operating method is comparable.
They don’t necessarily target soldiers. Nitin Yadav, who was detained in April 2022, collaborated with a contractor who provided produce to the army base. According to the officer, “He used to provide photos of bills or demands for products made by the army, which helped the Pakistani operatives gauge the strength at the facility.”
Kuldeep Singh, who was detained last month, is accused of creating a false Facebook profile in the persona of a woman and friending army personnel in order to gather data that he then gave to his Pakistani agent. He once had a job selling alcohol.
Everyone is useful to them in some way. Sometimes they make friends in order to obtain things like a mobile SIM card.
S Sengathir, an additional director general of police (security), claimed there had been numerous instances of Pakistani intelligence agents using Whatsapp to contact military officers and civilians to obtain information.
The army has a social media strategy, which is periodically changed, according to a senior army official who declined to be named. In the army, social media usage is prohibited, and soldiers are advised not to use it.
News Mania Desk
