IAF Jawan Arrested For Allegedly Leaking Sensitive Information

Sharma said a woman from Pakistan whom he met on Facebook tricked him into sharing classified information.

The crime branch of Delhi police has arrested Indian Air Force (IAF) jawan Devendra Sharma for allegedly leaking sensitive information related to IAF personnel, national security and defence to a woman he met online, officials said on Thursday, 12 May.

(Photo: Twitter/Farzana Shah/ Altered by The Quint)

The crime branch of Delhi police has arrested an Indian Air Force (IAF) jawan for allegedly leaking sensitive information related to IAF personnel, national security, and defence to a woman he met online, officials said on Thursday, 12 May.

The arrested jawan is identified as Devendra Sharma.

According to a report in Scroll.in, the 32-year-old Sharma said a woman from Pakistan whom he met on Facebook tricked him into sharing the classified information. Sharma, who had been working at Air Force Records Office in Delhi's Subroto Park has since been terminated from service.

The officer belongs to Kanpur. He was arrested from the national capital's Dhaula Kuan area on 6 May.

What Had Happened?

According to the police, Sharma had leaked information regarding defence installations to the Pakistani woman via WhatsApp. He had deceitfully retrieved the information from computers and other files, police said, as per news agency PTI.

The officials added that the former IAF officer befriended the woman on Facebook and then the latter began calling him frequently to get information.

Police said, the woman was trying to "get information about positions of Indian Air Force radars, posting of senior officials and their details. We have analysed his wife’s bank account and found suspicious transactions. We found the number used by the woman and are trying to trace her,” reported The Indian Express.

We have seized electronic gadgets and documents from Sharma and also suspect that Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan might be involved in the crime, police said, adding that Sharma had also received money in exchange of the information he had leaked.

(With inputs from PTI, Scroll.in, The Indian Express.)