NEW DELHI - Indian Army’s counter-intelligence (CI) wing and Military Intelligence (MI) carried out searches at the official premises of an Indian Lieutenant Colonel posted at a base headquarters in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, on Wednesday, on suspicion that he may have fallen prey to a honeytrap or ‘spear phishing’ by Pakistan’s ISI , reported Times of India link> .
Officials remained tight-lipped on the operation, but sources say that the officer is posted at the Army base workshop and was on the radar for the last two months. He has been detained, they said. CI and MI officers moved in on him on Monday, said an officer.
The takedown team arrived in 14-15 vehicles and started searching his office and quarters, said sources. There are multiple theories doing rounds and it’s not clear if he was honey-trapped or is being investigated in a corruption case. It is also being alleged that the officer has fallen victim to spear phishing e-mails due to which some classified information got leaked.
Spear phishing is a targeted e-mail-spoofing attack, different from phishing for financial gain, and is solely aimed at unauthorized access to sensitive information.
The officer is being questioned at Army Central Command headquarters and will be taken to Lucknow for further investigation, say sources. His wife reportedly protested with the senior officers when he was being questioned on Tuesday night.
Sources say certain documents have been collected from his office. Last week, an IAF officer was arrested on charges of leaking classified details and documents of Indian operations to Pakistan. Investigation revealed that it took seven months for ISI to honeytrap the IAF officer.