Indian Navy sailor arrested for allegedly leaking classified maritime intelligence to Pakistani operative

An Indian Navy sailor was arrested for allegedly transmitting classified maritime intelligence to a Pakistani intelligence operative through a social media-based "honey-trap" operation, officials said on Sunday.

The Andhra Pradesh Police Counter Intelligence (CI) cell arrested 31-year-old Pradeep Mukherjee on October 3 from INS Agrani, a naval leadership training facility in Coimbatore, official sources said.

Mukherjee, a native of West Bengal, joined the Navy in 2014 and was posted with the Eastern Naval Command in Visakhapatnam. He was attending a management development course at INS Agrani and had been at the facility for about a week when he was arrested.

According to sources, a female Pakistani intelligence operative had contacted Mukherjee through social media several months ago. Investigators suspect that the online relationship was subsequently used to obtain sensitive information from him.

The sailor allegedly shared details relating to strategic naval assets, fleet movements and the operational framework of the Visakhapatnam naval base, they said.

The CI cell, which specialises in investigating cross-border espionage and terror-related threats, launched a probe after detecting suspicious digital footprints allegedly linked to Mukherjee.

Investigators subsequently placed the sailor under surveillance before making the arrest, sources said.

The case is being investigated to establish the nature and extent of the information allegedly transmitted and the role of the Pakistani operative in the espionage operation.