NEW DELHI: An Indian Air Force (IAF) officer was arrested on Thursday byDelhi Police allegedly on charges of spying and passing secretdefence-related information to Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI)after he was honey-trapped.
Group Captain Arun Marwaha, 51, was detained on January 31 by the airforce’s Intelligence Wing with his smartphone at the IAF headquarters. Hewas questioned by the air force and handed over to the Delhi Police onFebruary 7, Indian media reported on Friday.
DCP (special cell) Pramod Khushwah has confirmed the arrest. Marwaha, 51,was allegedly using his smartphone to click pictures of classifieddocuments pertaining to combat exercises at the IAF headquarters and thensending them across via WhatsApp.
“We have arrested a senior officer of the IAF. He has been booked under theOfficial Secret Act. Further investigation is on,” MM Oberoi, specialcommissioner (special cell) of Delhi Police, said without divulging furtherdetails.
Marwaha was honey-trapped by ISI agents using two accounts of a socialnetworking site in December 2017, police said. He allegedly engaged inseductive conversations with the agents masquerading as models. His mobilephone has been seized and an FIR has been registered at New Delhi’s LodhiColony police station after the IAF’s complaint following its initial probe.
Police said they have not found any evidence of monetary exchange and addedthat he was passing classified information in lieu of explicit chats.
“We have found some objectionable conversations and pictures on his mobilephone,” an investigating officer said. – INP