India News

IAF Officer Allegedly Led Into Honey trap, Blackmailed Into Leaking Classified Information

Published

9 years ago

February 1, 2018

IAF Officer Allegedly Led Into Honey trap, Blackmailed Into Leaking Classified Information

Indian Air Force intelligence wing has held an Indian Air Force (IAF) Group Captain posted at Air Headquarters in Delhi for allegedly being honey-trapped by a woman and passing on classified information to her under what is suspected to be a Pakistani espionage operation.

Agency reports quoting sources said, “The Officer has been detained from New Delhi for further questioning after he was found indulging in unwanted activities through unauthorised electronic devices during routine counter intelligence surveillance carried out by the IAF’s Central Security and Investigation Team.”

The Group Captain – equivalent to a Colonel in army – is suspected of passing classified information through Facebook and WhatsApp to a woman, said media reports. The spy operation was detected during routine counter-intelligence surveillance by the IAF’S Central Security and Investigation team. “The IAF Central Security and Investigation team discovered that the officer was indulging in certain unwanted activities through unauthorised electronic devices,” media reports quoting an unnamed IAF official said.

According to reports, the officer was reportedly in touch with one of his handlers via Facebook. He allegedly came in contact with a woman through Facebook and was lured into a relationship with her and was then blackmailed to share crucial defence data, said reports.

He could have been in touch with his “handlers” for the last few months and reports quoted sources as saying, “We have strong reasons to believe that the officer was regularly meeting his handlers in the capital.”

“The Group Captain, who is a para-jumping instructor but not from the flying branch, is being interrogated after being taken into custody from the Race Course Road area. It is being ascertained whether he is part of some larger espionage ring,” said a TOI report quoting a source.

The identity of the woman has not been yet established. The officer’s identity has been concealed due to the ongoing investigation.

According to the strict guidelines in the armed forces, soldiers are restricted from sharing their identity rank, posting professional details on social media. They are also not allowed to post photographs showing them in uniform, NDTV reported.

A similar incident involving three officials of Indian High Commission in Pakistan was reported in December 2017. The officials were posted in Islamabad when they were lured by a woman in a honey trap. “The attempt even in this case was to seduce them and later film them in a compromising position,” a source was quoted as saying by TOI.

On discovering that the woman is likely to be a spy of ISI in Pakistan, the officials alarmed the authorities in New Delhi. They were immediately recalled from Islamabad and later, they helped the Indian authorities to trace the origin of the honey trap.

In 2015, an Airman in IAF was lured into passing on information by a UK-based girl going by the name McNaught Damini, allegedly a a woman fidayeen belonging to a Jammu & Kashmir-based terrorist group.

Earlier, in 2011, the Navy had sacked Commodore Sukhjinder Singh after his sexually explicit pictures with a Russian woman had surfaced, the TOI report said.

Singh was posted in Moscow as part of the Indian negotiating team for the acquisition of aircraft carrier, Admiral Gorshkov (now rechristened INS Vikramaditya), for which India finally agreed to pay $2.33 billion after protracted and bitter negotiations with Russia.

In another major commercial espionage case, in which three Navy and one IAF officer were arrested, a staggering 7,000 pages of classified information were ‘compromised’ from the naval war-room in South Block and the air defence directorate in Air Headquarters in what came to be known as the Navy war-room leak case in May 2005.

The other means for espionage adopted is suspected to be malware introduced through mobile apps. A report in IBT recalled that earlier in November 2017, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) had issued an order to the Indian Army and asked all the army cadres, including the officers, to uninstall over 40 Chinese mobile applications from their smartphones. The MoD had released a list of such applications and categorised them to be ‘spyware’, which means that it can be hacked and misused by hackers.

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Nandigram bypoll: Congress candidate arrested hours after Mamata’s support

Congress’s Nandigram bypoll candidate Milan Pradhan has been arrested in connection with an old alleged murder case, hours after Mamata Banerjee announced support for his candidature.

Published

8 hours ago

September 18, 2026

APNLive Desk

Congress candidate Milan Pradhan has been arrested in West Bengal in connection with an old murder case, hours after Mamata Banerjee announced that her faction would support his candidature in the October 6 Nandigram Assembly bypoll.

The arrest came on Friday, September 18, after Mamata Banerjee announced at a press conference at her Kalighat residence that her faction would back the Congress candidate in Nandigram.

Why was Milan Pradhan arrested?

According to the available report, Milan Pradhan was arrested in connection with an old alleged murder case. The report does not provide further details about the case, including the alleged incident, the sections invoked or the circumstances of the arrest.

The arrest therefore comes at a significant point in the Nandigram bypoll, with Pradhan having emerged as the Congress candidate after a series of political developments in the constituency.

Why did Mamata Banerjee support the Congress candidate?

Mamata Banerjee announced support for the Congress candidate after Sanchita Pradhan Dey, who had been fielded by her faction, withdrew from the Nandigram contest.

According to the report, Pradhan Dey withdrew her candidature after a meeting with West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari. Mamata subsequently announced that her faction would support the Congress candidate in the October 6 Nandigram Assembly bypoll.

The development placed Milan Pradhan at the centre of the latest political developments surrounding the Nandigram election.

Nandigram bypoll scheduled for October 6

The Nandigram Assembly bypoll is scheduled for October 6. The constituency has drawn attention ahead of the election following changes involving candidates and the political support announced by Mamata Banerjee’s faction.

With Milan Pradhan’s arrest now reported, the Congress candidate’s legal case is likely to become another important development in the run-up to the bypoll.

India News

Mamata Banerjee’s Nandigram candidate withdraws from bypoll

Sanchita Pradhan Dey withdrew from the Nandigram bypoll after meeting West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, with Mamata Banerjee later announcing support for Congress.

Published

8 hours ago

September 18, 2026

APNLive Desk

Sanchita Pradhan Dey, the candidate fielded by Mamata Banerjee’s faction of the Trinamool Congress for the Nandigram Assembly bypoll, has withdrawn from the contest.

The development came a day after the Election Commission announced that the rival Trinamool factions would not be allowed to use the party’s existing name and symbol for the upcoming bypolls. The poll panel later allotted new names and symbols to the two factions.

Dey had been announced as the Mamata faction’s Nandigram candidate on Sunday. She is a teacher in Nandigram who had lost her job following the cancellation of the appointments of 26,000 teachers in connection with an alleged recruitment scam.

Sanchita Pradhan Dey met Suvendu Adhikari

According to sources, Dey met West Bengal Chief Minister and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari on Thursday. A photograph of the meeting also emerged.

Her withdrawal was announced on Friday afternoon as Mamata Banerjee was addressing a press conference over the Election Commission’s decision concerning the Trinamool factions.

With Dey no longer in the contest, Banerjee announced that her faction would support the Congress candidate in the Nandigram bypoll.

Banerjee said the decision had been taken within her party and that she had spoken with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, while noting that the Congress had not been informed about the decision at that point.

New names and symbols for Trinamool factions

The Election Commission has allotted the name Mamata All India Trinamool Congress and the Football Player symbol to the faction led by Mamata Banerjee.

The rival faction led by Arup Roy has been allotted the name Democratic Trinamool Congress and the Envelope symbol.

The Nandigram and Rejinagar bypolls are scheduled for October 6, with counting set for October 9.

India News

BJP convoy attacked in Punjab ahead of anti-drug campaign launch

BJP leader and former Union minister Ravneet Singh Bittu alleged that his convoy was attacked near the Batala-Gurdaspur highway in Punjab while he was travelling to Pathankot for a BJP anti-drug event.

Published

9 hours ago

September 18, 2026

APNLive Desk

BJP leader and former Union Minister Ravneet Singh Bittu has alleged that his convoy was attacked in Punjab while he was travelling towards Pathankot to attend a party event.

According to Bittu, the incident took place near the Batala-Gurdaspur highway, where a group of people allegedly threw eggs, tomatoes and other objects at his convoy.

The incident occurred as Bittu was travelling to Pathankot for an anti-drug campaign being launched by BJP president Nitin Nabin.

What happened to Ravneet Bittu’s convoy?

Bittu’s convoy, comprising around eight to nine vehicles, came under attack near the Batala-Gurdaspur highway, according to his account.

He alleged that protesters threw eggs, tomatoes and other objects at the vehicles. Bittu further claimed that the windows of two escort vehicles were broken and that a jammer vehicle was also damaged.

The protesters also reportedly blocked the road, making it difficult for the convoy to continue towards Pathankot.

The incident took place near an area where the ‘Babe da viyah’ festival was being celebrated.

Three protesters reportedly caught

Bittu’s office said his security team caught three people who were allegedly involved in the incident.

His office further alleged that the three were linked to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). However, the allegation was denied by the AAP.

AAP leader Joban Randhawa said the party’s workers were protesting peacefully and alleged that Bittu’s supporters had targeted them.

The competing claims have not been independently established in the report.

What did Ravneet Singh Bittu say?

Bittu said he had informed the Union Home Ministry about the incident. He also held Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and the state’s Director General of Police responsible for his safety in the event of any harm to him or people associated with him.

His office called for an investigation into the incident and raised concerns about the safety of political leaders and workers.

Why was Bittu travelling to Pathankot?

Ravneet Singh Bittu was travelling to Pathankot to attend the BJP’s anti-drug campaign event. BJP president Nitin Nabin was scheduled to launch the campaign in Pathankot.

The incident occurred amid preparations for the BJP’s political activities in Punjab ahead of the state’s next Assembly election.

Who is Ravneet Singh Bittu?

Ravneet Singh Bittu is a BJP leader and former Union minister. He served as Minister of State for Railways and Minister of State for Food Processing Industries before resigning from the Union Council of Ministers in July 2026.

His tenure as a Rajya Sabha MP had ended in June 2026.