News / India

India detains ex-army officer for passing secrets to Pakistan

Tuesday, 29 December 2015 4:51 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 29 December 2015 6:09 PM ]

Indian police stand guard outside a government building in the capital New Delhi on December 15, 2015. (AFP photo)

Indian police have detained a former Indian Air Force officer on charges of passing secrets to Pakistan's premier spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

Ravindra Yadav, Delhi police joint commissioner of crime, said in a statement on Tuesday that the former officer identified as Ranjith KK had confessed to passing Air Force-related secrets to ISI.

The police official also added that the man is accused of passing details of air force exercises to Pakistan's spy agency.

"Ranjith KK has accepted to have passed Air Force-related information pertaining to a recent Air Force exercise, movements of aircraft and deployment of various units in Air Force," Yadav said.

According to the senior police official, the former Indian army officer revealed allegedly classified information to ISI after falling victim to a "honey trap". The ISI used a woman to lure the man into passing on top-secret information through Internet and mobile phone.

"As per the investigation so far, it has been assessed that (he) was befooled by the cross-border spies," Yadav noted.

The South Asian neighbors have frequently accused each other of spying on military activities.

The latest developments come as violence, including cross-border fire exchanges, has recently flared up between Indian and Pakistani troops along the disputed de facto border in Kashmir. The two sides have accused each other of provocation.

A UN observer takes photographs of a house damaged in cross-border shelling in Kundanpur near the eastern Pakistani city of Sialkot, on the India-Pakistan border, August 29, 2015. (Photo by AFP)

Pakistan and India have been engaged in hostility over Kashmir ever since their independence from British rule and their partition in 1947. Both neighbors claim the region in full but have partial control over it. Pakistan controls one-third of Kashmir, with the remaining two-thirds under India’s control.

Islamabad and New Delhi agreed on a ceasefire in 2003, and launched a peace process the following year.

The process was, however, suspended after over 160 people lost their lives in the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks, which New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based militants. Pakistan has vehemently denied India’s claim.

Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi (CR) and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (CL) walk through a guard of honor in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore on December 25, 2015. (AFP photo)

On December 25, Indian Premier Narendra Modi paid a surprise visit to his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in an attempt to ease frosty ties between the two arch rivals.

The two premiers have had a stop-start diplomatic relationship since Modi’s invitation to Sharif for the former’s inauguration last May in the Indian capital, New Delhi.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk