MES employee held in Punjab for passing military information to Pakistan-based operatives

The Punjab Police’s intelligence wing on Friday claimed to have busted an espionage racket active in the state with the arrest of a Military Engineering Services (MES) employee who allegedly passed sensitive military information to Pakistan-based operatives.

The alleged agent, Ram Kumar, is working as an electrician with MES in the Jalandhar Cantonment since 2013 and hails from Fazilka district. Two mobile phones and four SIM cards were recovered from him. The state special operations cell (SSOC) claims to have made his arrest on the basis of specific inputs provided by other agencies.

A case under Sections 3, 4, 5, 9 of the Official Secrets Act (OSA) and Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of Indian Penal Code was registered against him at the special operations cell police station in Amritsar.

Kumar during preliminary questioning revealed that he was befriended by a Pakistan-based intelligence operative on social media, the special operations cell said in a press release.

“He was asked to provide information of the Indian Army units deployed along the Indo-Pak border besides movement of army convoys in the area. He was also asked to provide details of specific army units,” a police spokesman said.

“He also provided mobile numbers of military officers to Pakistani intelligence operatives. He was paid money on more than one occasion for sharing information. After the Pulwama incident, his handlers became particularly inquisitive about the movement of army units,” he added.

Kumar was produced in court that sent him to four-day police remand. Further probe is on to check his social media activities, said the officials.