A Delhi court on Tuesday remanded to four days police custody a dismissed Air Force official who was arrested for allegedly sharing secret information with intelligence operatives suspected to be backed by Pakistan’s ISI after being “honeytrapped” into an espionage racket. Metropolitan Magistrate Punit Pahwa sent Ranjith KK, who was a leading aircraft man with the Indian Air Force posted at Bhatinda, to police custody after the Delhi Police submitted that he was required to be taken outside the national Capital for interrogation.
Seeking five days custody of Ranjith, the police said they have to take him to Jaisalmer and Gwalior. The court, however, said that four days were enough for questioning him at this stage. Ranjith was arrested on Monday by Delhi Police from Bhatinda in Punjab and brought on transit remand. He was dismissed recently and later on arrested after a combined operation by Delhi Police’s Crime Branch, Air Force Liaisoning Unit (LU) and Military Intelligence, police said.
Ranjith, a native of Malappuram district in Kerala, had joined IAF in 2010. He has been booked under provisions of Official Secrets Act.
The police said that with his arrest, they have come across a honeytrapping module, backed by intelligence agents from across the border, which creates fictitious accounts (cyber entities) in popular social networking sites, pretending to be women, befriend defence personnel and officials from security forces and allegedly lure them into espionage.”
Police said that in this case, Ranjith was deceived by a cyber entity by the name Damini McNaught, who pretended to be the executive of a UK-based media firm, and claimed that she required Air Force-related information for an article in their news magazine from Ranjith in exchange for pecuniary benefits.
Ranjith allegedly shared Air Force-related information, mostly pertaining to a recent exercise, movements of aircraft and deployment of various units, in exchange for money transferred to his bank account, police said.
It said Ranjith allegedly shared secret information also through e-mails and Internet-based text messaging services.
The documents he had shared now have to be analysed to evaluate the actual damage and potential threat to national security, police said.
Police are trying to crack open the honeytrapping module and ascertain the identities of more security personnel associated with it. Ranjith’s arrest came close on the heels of the cracking of an ISI-backed espionage racket by the Crime Branch of Delhi Police in connection with which five persons, including a serving and an ex-army personnel and a serving BSF man, were arrested.
However, the police have not yet been able to establish any link between Ranjith and the other racket, headed by one Kafaitullah Khan, which was found to have sources in the Pakistan High Commission here, it said.