Army jawan held on charges of leaking info to foreign woman

The Narnaul police have arrested an army jawan, Ravinder Kumar Yadav, 21, of Bassai village in Mahendergarh district, for allegedly sharing secret information with a foreign woman for the past around two years.

The police have recovered 7 live cartridges, two mobile phones and three SIM cards from his possession.

Narnaul superintendent of police (SP) Chander Mohan said the youth was posted at Arunachal Pradesh and he had returned home on five-day leave on July 10. “We had nabbed him from a dhaba near Narnaul railway station on July 10 when he was having tea after coming out from the station. On Thursday, we produced him in a local court, which sent him on two-day police remand,” SP added.

The accused was booked under Sections 4, 5 and 9 of the Official Secrets Act and 120 B of the Indian Penal Code.

Yadav was recruited in 5 Kumaon regiment of the army in March, 2017. He was posted at Amritsar in 2018 where he came in contact with a foreign woman.

“After that he had started chats with the woman on Facebook. Some days later, the jawan told the woman that he was working with the army and then the woman started video calls with him also. The jawan had shared the location of his army unit and weapons. He also shared information about his transfer from Amritsar to Arunachal Pradesh. However, their interactions continued and the woman even deposited Rs 5,000 in his account,” a Narnaul police spokesman said. He added that the intelligence agency had briefed them about his alleged involvement, following which they laid the trap and nabbed him.

“The jawan was using multiple numbers for WhatsApp. We are yet to ascertain the identity of the woman and her nationality. We suspect the woman belongs to Pakistan. As per his Facebook record, he came in contact with Anika, who introduced herself as Captain Anu to him. The woman never picked up his phone calls and she always called him through WhatsApp only,” he added.

First Published: Jul 13, 2019 13:00 IST