SOURCE : REPUBLIC TV
In yet another major success for the military intelligence, two ISI operatives were arrested on Monday from Rajasthan. In a joint operation by Lucknow-based Military Intelligence and Rajasthan Police, one Vikas Kumar (29), a civil defence employees at an Army Ammunition Depot near Shri Ganganagar (Rajasthan) and Chiman Lal (22), a civil contractual employee of Army’s Mahajan Field Firing Range (MFFR), Bikaner were arrested for indulging in espionage activities. They were involved in passing crucial information about the ammunition depot and MFFR — important military installations in the Western front.
Speaking to Republic TV, Uttar Pradesh ATS chief said that the tip-off was first shared with Uttar Pradesh Police in 2019.
“Since the military intelligence was based in Lucknow, we were first to have been roped in. We started following Vikas’s activities. It was clear that he was passing on information to his handlers through Whatsapp. We suspected that he would be travelling to Lucknow but when he did not we decided to share the information with Rajasthan Police,” said UT ATS chief.
According to agency sources, Vikas Kumar was cultivated by a Pakistani Intelligence Operative (PIO) using a Facebook profile in the garb of “Anoshka Chopra” which was being run from Multan, Pakistan by a young Pakistani woman. Vikas was allegedly sharing military information related to order of battle; composition and order of a military fighting formation, ammunition (photos, state, quantity, type, arrival, departure), units coming for firing practice/ military exercise to MFFR, personality traits of senior army officers in lieu of money. Agencies have found that Vikas was receiving payments in three of his (and his brother’s) bank accounts.
Republic TV has accessed a copy of the register pages that were being shared by Vikas to his handlers. Vikas was taking photos of a “water distribution register” at a water point/ pump house in MFFR through a contractual civil employee named Chiman Lal.
INTERROGATION DETAILS:
Following his arrest in Jaipur, Vikas has admitted;
He had received a friend request from the PIO’s Facebook Profile, “Anoshka Chopra” in the month of March/ April 2019 and had accepted. Pakistani operative used an Indian WhatsApp number and claimed she was working with Canteen Store Department headquarters at Mumbai.
Vikas Kumar joined several WhatsApp groups as she asked him to. She was in all these groups and there were many serving defence and civil defence employees in them. She introduced Vikas Kumar to her ‘boss’, one Amit Kumar Singh, believed to be his handler, who was also using an Indian WhatsApp number. The handler convinced Vikas to send him military information in exchange for money.
Republic has learnt that Vikas has shared details about Army units and their strength coming to MFFR, details of ammunition coming to the ammunition depot including their type, quantity, mode of transportation, date of arrival on a routine basis (almost every time it came to his notice). Vikas has also shared the name, rank and personality traits of some senior Military Officers in the two army brigades nearby. Republic has also accessed 4 audio conversations of the handler.Vikas admitted that around March-April 2020 he came to know that the Whatsapp groups were being run by Pakistanis and he also realised that ‘Anoshka Chopra’ and ‘Amit Kumar Singh’ were from Pakistani intelligence agencies. Despite that, he continued to pass on critical information to them in greed for money. Vikas confessed to having received at least Rs 75,000/- in total from his Pakistani handler (in smaller lots) for the information he has shared during this entire period.
https://defencenewsofindia.com/big-2-isi-operatives-arrested-in-military-intelligences-operation-desert-chase/
