Air Force had court martialled jawan arrested in ‘honey trap’ espionage case

Sources said that the case was discovered by the force some time ago, and after going through the due process, Devendra Sharma was court martialled for allegedly passing sensitive information to an adversary.

Sharma was posted in the Air Force Records Office in Subroto Park. Sources said that the office generally deals with the manpower of the Air Force, and postings of the Airmen, who are the Air Force personnel below the rank of officers. The office does not generally deal with information regarding defence installations, but Sharma had allegedly accessed such information through the computers.

A Sergeant in the Air Force, Sharma who hails from Kanpur, had around 10 years of service.

As reported by The Indian Express on Friday, Sharma was arrested on espionage charges by Crime Branch officials of the Delhi Police on Thursday, on the suspicion that he was honey-trapped and leaked sensitive information to a woman.

Police had said on Thursday that he was arrested after receiving inputs on May 6. Police said in a statement that a complaint was received from the Air Force “stating that Sharma had leaked information about defence installations after deceitfully getting the information from computers. He allegedly leaked information to an agent of an adversary country and also received money for it.”

Sharma had allegedly befriended a woman on Facebook, and would speak to her over the phone to get information regarding defence installations and postings of senior officers.