Mazagon Dock worker shares sensitive info with Pakistan agent, held

MUMBAI: The state anti-terrorism squad Saturday arrested a 31-year-old contract worker of Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders for allegedly sharing confidential information on restricted areas with a Pakistan-based intelligence operative through social media, reports Mateen Hafeez.
The suspect, Kalpesh Baikar, who was working as a structural fabricator on a ship at the dockyard, and the woman Pakistani agent have been booked under Official Secrets Act (OSA) and for criminal conspiracy under IPC.“He shared some documents which are prohibited under OSA. He received money,” a police source said. Police are probing if Baikar was honey-trapped and coerced into leaking the information.
Dock worker, Pak agent in touch from 2021-23
Kalpesh Baikar, the contract worker of Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders arrested for sharing confidential details on restricted areas, and the Pakistani agent communicated via Facebook and WhatsApp between Nov 2021 and May 2023, according to ATS sources.
“We are checking all aspects,” an officer said. Investigators are scouring Baikar’s social media accounts. They will check his bank account as well and his cellphone is likely to be sent for forensic analysis. Baikar was picked up from Navi Mumbai and has been sent to police custody till March 14. Sources said he had been employed at the dockyard since 2014. On Dec 12, 2023, ATS invoked OSA against a trainee civil apprentice at the naval dockyard, Thane resident Gaurav Patil (22), after he was allegedly honey-trapped by two women Pakistani agents and shared confidential information about restricted areas with them.
The Pakistani agents had allegedly told him that they were employees of a firm that designs ships. In Oct 2020, ATS arrested Dipak Shirsath, an assistant supervisor at defence PSU Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd’s facility near Nashik, for allegedly providing classified information about Indian fighter aircraft to an ISI handler. Shirsath, whose job entailed inspection of materials, was also suspected to have been lured into a honey trap.