Havaldar caught selling Army secrets to Pakistan
02 Jun 2012
A havaldar [sergeant] working as head clerk in the Army's Military Intelligence unit has been collared for stealing and selling classified information from this sensitive branch of the armed forces.
It was officially admitted for the first time today that the havaldar was trapped in April in a joint operation of the Army and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence officials, who caught him stealing and trying to pass on classified information to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
The havaldar, reportedly one Shivdasan, was nabbed in Thiruvananthapuram and handed over to the Army for further action.
A CD, pen drive and highly classified documents were discovered on the armyman when he was trapped.
According to Indian Express, what has rattled the Army is the depth and range of information that Shivdasan was trying to sell. It apparently contained detailed operational plans, information on troop deployments and even conversations between top officers at Army Headquarters.
Revenue intelligence apparently received initial information about an individual trying to sell sensitive information. A preliminary probe established that Shivdasan had contacted a relative of his in Dubai with an offer to sell classified information. Shivdasan found it convenient to receive the money at Kochi in his home state of Kerala.
His relative got in touch with an ''agent'' in Dubai to broker the deal. This agent was a DRI plant who baited the trap.
The sleuths in Kochi alerted DRI headquarters in New Delhi, which informed the Army.
The revenue directorate has not registered a case, as the matter is now in the Army's domain.
