Retired Indian Army captain arrested in Tamil Nadu for passing defence data to alleged Pakistani contact
A former Indian Army officer, now teaching at the NCC academy, was detained in Vellore for allegedly sharing military procurement details with a woman he met online who claimed to work for the DRDO.
Former honorary Indian Army captain P Babu, aged 52, was taken into custody in Vellore after authorities said he leaked details about defence procurement to a woman he encountered on a social-media platform. The woman, suspected of being a Pakistani operative, posed as a DRDO research assistant and contacted Babu through WhatsApp, prompting him to share information on weapon stock and purchases and to solicit similar data from his former peers.
Investigators uncovered that Babu had purchased five mobile lines in his name over recent months to facilitate the exchange. His smartphones were confiscated, and he was booked under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections concerning threats to India's sovereignty and under the Official Secrets Act for handling classified material. The case follows a series of recent “honey-trap” operations targeting Indian defence personnel, including recent arrests of navy and air force officers. Babu appeared before a court on Saturday and was ordered to remain in Vellore central prison.
Why it matters
The arrest highlights ongoing cyber-espionage threats to India's defence secrets and the use of online honey-traps against military personnel.
In this story
