The arrest of an Army officer’s wife, hobnobbing with foreign intelligence operatives, including individuals linked to China, has rattled Intelligence agencies in Jammu and Kashmir.
Hailing from Telangana, the young woman first came on the radar of Intelligence agencies when she started using certain Chinese Apps.
During the course of the tracking process, the intelligence agencies observed that she was collecting vital information and sharing the same with foreign agencies in the form of research articles.
Last week, she was detained for preliminary investigation at the Jammu railway station. She was escorted to a nearby military station for interrogation.
Official sources said she visited Jammu briefly. She came from Pathankot, where she was staying with her husband in a military cantonment. Police registered an FIR at Gandhi Nagar police station. Later, police arrested her under the Official Secrets Act and relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Police also seized her mobile phone and sent it for detailed forensic analysis.
According to the sources, she was pursuing certain research-related activities, which are being examined.
Official sources said she is currently working as a freelance researcher. According to official sources, the Army Officer’s wife was allegedly tasked with submitting write-ups on sensitive security, defence, and geopolitical issues, specifically covering Line of Control (LoC) dynamics in Jammu and Kashmir, critical infrastructure projects in Arunachal Pradesh, and drone deployment.
The accused married a serving Army officer holding the rank of Major in October 2023 after completing a Master of Advanced Studies in European and International Governance in Geneva in 2022. She also earned a master’s degree in International Relations from a university in Bengaluru in 2021.
Investigators are examining whether the woman researcher engaged in systematic research and information-sharing with suspected foreign contacts under the guise of freelance research, they said, adding that a comprehensive forensic examination of her digital devices and financial transactions is underway to establish the exact nature of the shared material.