Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, June 26: An Indian Navy staffer was arrested in Jaipur on Wednesday for allegedly leaking defence-related sensitive information to the Pakistani intelligence handler he met on Facebook.
Vishal Yadav, an Upper Division Clerk (UDC) in the Directorate of Dockyard posted in the Indian Navy headquarters in Delhi “Nau Sena Bhavan,” used Telegram for communication and received some of the payments through crypto currency.
The police have revealed that Yadav who hails from Haryana’s Rewari district, was first approached on Facebook, where the Pakistani handler sent a friend request under the fake identity “Priya Sharma” and then the communication started.
The two started communicating regularly on various social media platforms, from Facebook to WhatsApp. They later communicated through Telegram, a platform known for its encryption-enabled messages.
According to the authorities, Yadav allegedly also shared details on Operation Sindoor carried out by the Indian Armed Forces in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in response to the Pahalgam terror attack last month.
The Inspector General of Police (CID-Security) Vishnu Kant Gupta said Vishal Yadav leaked the classified information to a female Pakistani handler posing as an Indian woman. Police said Yadav initially received small payments of ₹5,000- ₹6,000 for lower-grade information. However, the handler allegedly encouraged him to provide more valuable intelligence for higher compensation. That’s when Yadav began sharing critical defence-related data.
“He was lured by money and ended up leaking sensitive information from the Navy headquarters,” the IG said. The accused is believed to have received around ₹2 lakhs for his spying. The authorities believe that the accused was addicted to online gaming, and that may have been what made him vulnerable to the trap of the Pakistani spy network.
Mr Gupta said Yadav confessed to receiving approximately ₹2 lakh in total in exchange for the information he passed on to the Pakistani handler. “Yadav confessed to receiving approximately ₹2 lakh in total for the information he passed on,” Gupta said, adding that the amount included ₹50,000 for leaking information on Operation Sindoor.
Yadav is also said to be addicted to online gaming, which authorities believe may be the reason behind the breach of information. The investigating agencies have said the forensic examination of Yadav’s mobile phone uncovered extensive evidence, including financial transactions, sensitive messages, and confidential defence data. “After monitoring his social media activity and confirming his links with a Pakistani handler, he was detained in Jaipur for joint interrogation involving multiple national agencies,” the IGP added.
IG Gupta warned that Pakistan’s intelligence networks are deploying increasingly sophisticated tactics to extract sensitive information. “We are keeping a constant watch on such activities, and this arrest is a result of sustained monitoring and timely action,” he said.
A crypto currency trail had led intelligence agencies to Yadav. The case goes back to another one linked to a spy, Ravi Prakash Meena, a Rajasthan resident who was arrested in 2022. Meena was a Class 4 employee in the Defence Ministry’s Sena Bhavan. Investigators found that Meena received money through a crypto currency channel in return for providing sensitive information like maps to his Pakistani handler.
When intelligence agencies put Meena’s crypto currency channel under surveillance, they were led to two more people. One of them was Yadav who had been getting money from the same crypto currency channel as Meena. Thereafter, intelligence operatives put Yadav under surveillance for over two years before finally arresting him. A large sum of money was being transferred from this crypto currency channel to Yadav, who in turn used the money to feed his online gaming addiction.
The method used by the Pakistani handlers is clear. They looked for clerical staff in the Defence Ministry and either lured them with honey trap or offered money to give sensitive information.
The authorities had busted a large spy network working for Pakistan after last month’s Operation Sindoor. More than 20 people from Punjab, Haryana and other places were arrested in connection with espionage, including the vlloger Jyoti Malhotra. India had also declared some of the staff at the Pakistani High Commission in Delhi as persona non grata due to their connection to this network.
