The Special Cell of the Delhi Police has arrested 51-year-old Arun Marwah, Group Captain of India Air Force (IAF), after he was found to be sharing confidential information with two women, suspected to be members of notorious Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) Pakistan, police said on Friday.
Arun Marwah was posted at IAF Headquarters as Para-Jumping instructor and was in charge of elite group of commandoes Garud. The officer’s retirement was due next year. Sleuths of the Special Cell said Marwah was handed over to them by the Intelligence Wing of the Indian Air Force on Thursday night.
Confirming the arrest, PS Kushwah, DCP Special Cell said, “Marwah was handed over to the Delhi Police on Thursday late night. We received complaint on Wednesday from the IAF. He was interrogated at length and was proven guilty in the internal investigation which started few weeks before.”
The 51-year-old IAF officer has been charged of espionage and for passing on classified information to a woman, allegedly member of ISI. “Marwah was ‘honey-trapped’ by two women pretending to be models. Last year in early December, Marwah befriended two women through Facebook and gradually they exchange phone numbers. Enquiry revealed that ‘Kirana Randhawa’ and ‘Mahima Patel’ were the suspected facebook users. Marwah started chatting with both of them on WhatsApp and exchanged intimate texts. Marwah, was allegedly leaking classified documents to a woman through WhatsApp. He had befriended her through Facebook in December last year, the official said.
“All the confidential documents which were passed by Marwah were in exchange of intimate chats, not any monetary value,” said the officer.
A highly-placed officer in the Special Cell said, “The documents which were passed by Marwah comprises content of training and combat-related air exercises. Gagan Shakti was one such exercise whose details were passed by Marwah.”
“Marwah’s activities were under scanner as massive breach in confidential data was discovered by senior IAF officer. In early December, senior officers in IAF spotted Marwah while carrying smart phones in the premises. IAF’s central security and investigating team monitored Marwah’s activities on social media.”
As per the complaint filed against Marwah by the IAF, he was caught by the Counter Intelligence Wing after he was found carrying a high-end phone at the headquarters. The wing is also probing whether he was part of any larger espionage ring. The IAF officially did not comment on the matter.
The officer further said Marwah was found carrying phones inside the IAF premises with the intentions of clicking pictures of important and confidential documents and later was passing it to the suspected woman. This was in violation of the rule where officers are not allowed to carry phones inside the premises.
“They initiated an internal investigation in the matter. After Marwah was found guilty of breaching confidential documents, he was detained by IAF on January 31. During investigation Marwah was proven guilty for deliberately spying,” said the officer. “An FIR has been lodged under Sections 4 and 5 of Official Secret Act at Special Cell police station,” said Kushwah.