Indian Navy sailor lured into honeytrap, arrested for leaking key defence data to Pak operative

A 31-year-old Indian Navy sailor was arrested in Coimbatore on Saturday after he got honeytrapped into leaking sensitive defence information to a female Pakistani intelligence operative.

A 31-year-old Indian Navy sailor was arrested in Coimbatore on Saturday after he got honeytrapped into leaking sensitive defence information to a female Pakistani intelligence operative. The Counter Intelligence (CI) Cell of Andhra Pradesh police arrested the sailor, Pradeep Mukherjee, of West Bengal, in what the authorities are referring to as a major counter-espionage breakthrough, the Times of India reported.

Mukherjee was attending a management development course at INS Agrani, a premier naval leadership training establishment at Red Fields in Coimbatore, when he was arrested. He was commissioned into the Indian Navy as a sailor back in 2014.

As per the report, he was posted as a sailor under the Eastern Naval Command, which is based in Visakhapatnam. The authorities noted that Mukherjee arrived at INS Agrani barely a week ago to attend a management development course. Sources told TOI that he fell prey to an online honeytrap which was laid by a female Pakistani operative.

The Pakistani operative reportedly contacted him on social media a few months ago. The source maintained that the handler gradually befriended the sailor before extracting sensitive details concerning strategic naval assets, fleet movements and operational setups linked to the Visakhapatnam naval base.

Suspicious digital footprints

The Counter Intelligence (CI) Cell of Andhra Pradesh police, which is an elite wing focused on neutralising terror modules, cross-border espionage and high-security threats, placed Mukherjee under surveillance after detecting suspicious digital footprints.

The sources noted that once his role in transmitting classified information was confirmed, investigators secured clearance from naval authorities to arrest him. A specialised CI team arrived at INS Agrani, Coimbatore, on Saturday morning and took him into custody. Local police officials were eventually formally informed the arrest, The Times of India reported.

Investigators went on to produce the sailor before a local magistrate to secure a transit warrant before taking him to the Counter Intelligence headquarters in Vijayawada in the evening for further custodial interrogation. An investigation is currently underway to determine the nature and the volume of the defence information that has been compromised.

They are also investigating whether any financial transactions were routed to Mukherjee through hawala or digital payment channels.

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