An Indian Air Force Group Captain, Arun Marwaha was arrested by Delhi Police on Wednesday on charges of espionage. It seemed that he was allegedly seduced by two agents of Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI on Facebook and he was later forced to submit secret information on the WhatsApp. The Special Cell is now interrogating Marwaha at its headquarters in Lodhi Colony area of South Delhi. The police are investigating whether he has any accomplices or not. According to the sources Marwaha’s phone had been seized by the Special Cell and he is under questioning.
The sources said that Marwaha has confessed that he had access to many secret information and files due to his posting at the Delhi Air Force Headquarters. The Special Cell Officer said that Marwaha had shared the information privy to the investigation and secret documents with two ISI agents who seduced him while pretending to be women. The fake accounts were made on the Facebook by the names of Kiran Randhawa and Mahima Patel.
The reports said that Marwaha became friends with the Pakistani agents who posed as girls to who him via Facebook chat a few months ago. After that their friendship started growing and they started to chat on WhatsApp regularly, they even exchanged very intimate messages with each other. The agents asked him for the secret documents after they gained his trust. But looking at things from different perspective, investigators from IAF’s counterintelligence are trying to find whether Marwaha was a part of a larger ring run from Pakistan.
Marwaha clicked pictures of the secret documents from Headquarters of IAF in New Delhi and sent them via WhatsApp to the agents pretending to be models. This massive breach was discovered by a senior Air Force Officer and an internal investigation team was set up quickly. After questioning Marwaha for more than ten days, the counter-intelligence sent him to police for further investigation and questioning.
He was arrested on Thursday as he was walking into the Headquarters with his smartphone which has been banned on the premises. A court sent him to a five days police custody. The top investigators are trying to find whether Mr. Marwaha was a part of a larger ring run from Pakistan.
The IAF has not made any official comments on the issue but one official said that Marwaha was arrested while he was caught indulging in unwanted activities with an unauthorized device. The official added that Marwaha shared various training exercise done by the Air Force including Gagan Shakti. The leaked documents mainly consisted of training and air combat.
Investigation Cell’s commissioner MM Oberoi said that Marwaha was detained on January 31 after he was found with the unauthorized electronic device in the IAF building. His activities were found suspicious and this finally leads to his arrest. Oberoi said that “He was arrested on Wednesday after a case was registered against him under the Official Secrets Act.”
