An Indian Air Force officer, who was arrested by the Delhi Police on espionage charges was posted in the Air Headquarters and was handling an important department dealing with cyber warfare and training of para-jumpers of the IAF, which includes its elite Garud commandos.
He was due to retire next year.
Group Captain Arun Marwaha (51) was caught by the counter-intelligence unit of the Air Force for passing on classified information to Pakistani intelligence agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
According to the investigators, Marwaha allegedly leaked information like the IAF's upcoming training and exercise schedule and even the structure of the Air Force's cyber warfare and space cell to Pakistani agents who were chatting with him on a social media platform, posing as young girls pursuing their modelling career.
Marwaha, a navigator, was also a qualified para-jumper; he had earlier served with the DRDO's Agra based Aerial Delivery Research & Development Establishment.
Delhi police has booked him under provisions of the Official Secrets Act, which carries punishment of up to 14 years imprisonment.
Sources claimed that the officer met these ISI agents on Facebook; the agents were reportedly posing as struggling models.
After chatting on Facebook, the agents started sharing messages on WhatsApp also and the officer is believed to have shared several official documents with them through the mobile-based messaging service.
On the basis of information retrieved from his mobile phone, investigators have found several intimate messages and pictures that were shared between him and ISI agents.
After interrogating him for nearly 10 days, the IAF handed over Marwaha to the Delhi Police.
In a similar incident in 2014, an IAF jawan, posted at Pathankot airbase, was arrested for leaking classified information to ISI agents, whom he met on a social media platform.
The armed forces have very strict guidelines for the use of social media; personnel are not allowed to be on any social media platform where they reveal their ranks and posting places.
