Lucknow:

Uttar Pradesh’s Anti-Terrorism Squad has arrested a man working in an ordnance factory in Firozabad on suspicion of spying for Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI.

The man – Ravindra Kumar – shared confidential data, including information the Gangayaan space project and the trial of a military logistics-delivery drone, UP ATS chief Nilabja Choudhary said Friday.

An associate of Ravindra Kumar has also been arrested.

Mr Choudhary said UP ATS and other law enforcement agencies had been alerted to Ravindra Kumar possibly leaking data to a female handler – code name Neha Sharma – working for the ISI.

“So, our Agra unit did a preliminary interrogation of Ravindra Kumar and then he was called to ATS headquarters for more detailed questioning, where it was revealed that he shared very sensitive information through a handler called ‘Neha’,” the senior cop told reporters.

The handler’s contact, Mr Choudhary said, had been saved in Ravindra Kumar’s phone under the name ‘Chandan Store Keeper 2’. Sharma had initiated contact with Kumar via Facebook.

#WATCH | Lucknow | ADG UP ATS Nilabja Choudhary says, “ATS UP and their associate agencies got info that there is a person named Ravindra Kumar was sharing different confidential and sensitive information with his Pak ISI handler. So, working on this, our Agra unit did a… pic.twitter.com/7K2GXfSjmE

— ANI (@ANI) March 14, 2025

And once that contact was established, Kumar shared information via WhatsApp.

“This ISI model has been around a long time,” he said, referring to the ‘honey-trap’, in which female agents entice sensitive information, often related to defence matters, out of men.

“They trap people and extract information that poses a huge threat to national security. While interrogating him we found he shared information with said handler… which included daily production reports of the ordnance factory he was working in, requisition details…”

He also called on all ordnance factories and other defence-related institutions to tighten security protocols and “maintain a minimum level of security on all employees”.

With input from agencies

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