'Honey trapped' Naval Dock trainee shares info with Pak operatives, held

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has arrested a 22-year-old trainee with a government department for allegedly leaking sensitive information on restricted areas to Pakistani intelligence operatives who honey trapped him.
The ATS has registered a case under the Official Secrets Act against Gaurav Patil, who was appointed as a trainee civil apprentice at the Naval Dock in November 2022, and three others who are on his contact list.
The police did not reveal the identity of the three co-accused.
Patil, who lives in a rented apartment in Thane, has been remanded in police custody till December 18.
The ATS received information that Patil, who hails from Jalgaon district, was in contact with Pakistani intelligence operatives, who posed as women on social networking sites and paid him money via online transactions for sharing confidential and sensitive information on restricted areas. Based on this input, ATS personnel interrogated Patil. During the interrogation, police learnt that he was introduced to two Pakistani intelligence operatives through Facebook and WhatsApp in April-May and in October.
Police are looking into the money trail and are also examining Patil's social media accounts to get more details. His mobile phone may be sent to the forensic science laboratory for examination, said sources.
This is the second case registered by the state ATS under the Official Secrets Act this year.
On June 30, the state ATS's Pune unit submitted its 1,835-page chargesheet in connection with the arrest of Pradeep Kurulkar (59), a scientist at a Defence Research and Development Organisation laboratory in Pune, in an alleged espionage case. He was arrested in May.
The ATS said it had enough evidence to prove that Kurulkar had misused his official position to leak classified information related to national security to a Pakistani intelligence agent. A special ATS court in Pune rejected Kurulkar's bail plea on December 7.