Junior Defence Contractor Arrested For Leaking Indian Naval Secrets To Suspected Pakistani Spies News Mobile

pDateppMumbai A 27yearold junior defence contractor has been arrested for allegedly leaking restricted information on Indian Navy warships and submarines to suspected Pakistani intelligence agents Maharashtras AntiTerrorism Squad ATS said in a statement issued late SaturdayppIdentified as Ravindrlidhar Verma the accused was working in the electrical department of Mumbaibasa Muraed Krasni Defence Technology Pvt Ltd which handles sensitive repair operations for key defence establishments including the Naval Dockyard Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd and the Indian Coast Guard His role granted him access to several restricted naval installations across MaharashtrappAccording to reports Verma was arrested on Wednesday by the Thane unit of the ATS after investigators found he had shared operational details about 14 naval vessels including warships and submarines Indian Navy officials confirmed that at least five of the details provided were accurate and classifiedppInvestigators revealed that Verma had been lured into the espionage operation in 2024 through Facebook friend requests from two accounts named Payal Sharma and Ishpreet both believed to be operated by Pakistani intelligence agents posing as Indian women involved in naval researchppThe conversations quickly turned personal and one of the operatives using the alias Priti Jaiswal moved the chats to WhatsApp In exchange for emotional attention and cash transfers Verma began sharing sensitive data including sketches notes and audio messagesppAs per a report a senior ATS officer said He was very much aware of what he was doing and to whom he was passing on the sensitive information He was getting money in exchange for providing the informationppDespite strict mobile phone bans at naval sites Verma allegedly memorised technical details and later reconstructed them in the form of diagrams sketches and voice notes One audio message retrieved from his phone dated March 11 2025 has Verma reportingppSir kuch reply nahi de rahe unka net shayd se band hai Aaj mein roundup pe gaya tha So sari sari ship dekhi hai vo sari meine diary mein karke tumko kiya ki haippA day later on March 12 Verma photographed a notebook page listing names and exact locations of 14 Indian naval ships data later verified by authorities as restrictedppAccording to police sources quoted by reports forensic analysis of Vermas phone revealed a wellmaintained archive of communications including messages diagrams videos and photographs sent over several months Investigators believe he was in touch with multiple handlers posing as college friends of PritippA case has been registered against Verma the unnamed Sir and Priti Jaiswal under the Official Secrets Act 1923 and Section 612 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 Authorities are also examining financial transactions made to Verma from both domestic and foreign accountsppVermas mother Rekha has claimed that her son was emotionally exploited by unknown women online Yes Ravi spoke to someone on Facebook but the woman trapped my son she said He told me about these bad women and even wanted to delete his accountppATS officials said Verma has been remanded to custody until Monday and is cooperating with investigators Data recovery teams are currently examining his digital devices to assess the scale of the breachppOfficials have not ruled out the possibility of a larger spy network operating within defencelinked firms Further arrests and revelations are likely in the coming days as the investigation unfoldspp

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