Rejecting the claims made by a social media post and a media house that one of the Indian Army's Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) was "hacked" by the Chinese side, the Army said the claims were "unverified" and "misleading."
A news report had claimed that the drone veered into the Chinese-controlled territory and the PLA (People's Liberation Army) took control of it and operated the drone for some time before sending it back to the Indian side.
The news report suggested that the drone could be of Israeli origin and that although it had an encrypted data link, the Chinese side managed to take control of it.
The report had even raised concerns about the "effectiveness of existing encryption measures and risks of relying on foreign technology in critical defence systems."
Reacting to these claims, the Army asked the media to refrain from publishing such "unverified" and "misleading" content.
The Army remains fully committed to the security and operational integrity of all its assets, news agency PTI quoted Army sources as saying.
It is clarified that the article is "completely baseless and factually incorrect" and "no such incident" has taken place, an Army source said.
The Army urged media houses and social media users to "refrain from carrying unverified and misleading content", which could create "unnecessary alarm and misinformation" in the public domain, the news agency quoted the source as saying.
