New Delhi: It began with a late-night WhatsApp message to an Indian Air Force (IAF) officer. The sender claimed to be a woman looking for help from a qualified therapist. The IAF Wing Commander told her that she had the wrong number. But she persisted.
“I really need help. Could you please suggest a good therapist? I am going through a separation and am really depressed,” the sender is said to have told him. That was the hook. The IAF officer was himself going through a separation and living alone. “Oh, I am on the same page,” he is said to have replied. And the alleged honey trap was set.
Over the next few weeks, the two began talking regularly. Their conversations soon turned personal, leading to an exchange of photographs and eventually nude pictures. By then, the IAF officer was trapped. Investigators suspect that the person on the other end was a Pakistani Intelligence Operative (PIO).
In return for the nudes, the officer allegedly began sharing photographs of his surroundings, including where he was posted, areas inside the cantonment and operational details, information on drone capabilities and sensitive coordinates among them.
The IAF Wing Commander was subsequently arrested under the Official Secrets Act (OSA), and a chargesheet was filed against him in a Delhi court in August. It detailed how the alleged honey trap was laid and sensitive information the IAF officer allegedly shared.
The case was registered by the Delhi Police’s counter-terrorism wing following a complaint from the Indian Air Force (IAF). “Pakistani intelligence operatives knew the IAF officer was going through a marital separation and exploited his vulnerability. This shows the extent of social engineering involved. They had done their research and specifically targeted him,” a police officer privy to the investigation told ThePrint, requesting anonymity.
“The operative approached him on the pretext of looking for a doctor, making it appear as though she had messaged him accidentally. It was all carefully planned,” the officer added.
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‘Put national security at risk’
According to another source privy to the investigation, over a period of two months, the IAF Wing Commander is suspected to have shared several photographs containing sensitive information with the suspected PIO, allegedly compromising military assets.
“The IAF, in its complaint, detailed how the information and documents shared by the officer compromised its assets and put national security at risk,” the source said.
The investigation revealed that the IAF officer initially began sharing photographs of himself at his workplace, which also showed parts of his office and the airbase. He then allegedly went on to share sensitive information, including deployment plans, the positioning of fighter aircraft and details of planned military exercises.
“There were photographs of him sitting in his office with sensitive documents lying on his table, which were never supposed to be shared. What may have started as him casually sharing pictures of himself at work with someone he believed was a woman interested in him gradually turned into something far more serious. He ended up revealing much more than he should have. The operative then began asking for more information, and by then, he was trapped,” the source said.
What followed was textbook espionage, the source added. The suspected PIO sent the IAF Wing Commander a malicious application, which he downloaded, believing it would allow him to view a photograph. The malware then allegedly gave the suspected PIO access to data on the officer’s phone, including his communications with other officers.
According to the source, the two exchanged more than 3,000 text messages and more than 60 images during their conversations. “Besides these, there were several video calls and links exchanged between the two,” the source said.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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