‘It started with a missed call, then love’: How Pak spies honeytrapped them

Pradeep Kumar and Riya had been together for 16 months. They hadn’t met in person but it did not seem to matter. Or that he was a gunner in the Indian Army posted in Jodhpur, she a Lt Colonel posted at a military hospital in Bengaluru.

They would speak for hours, often on video calls. She had already introduced him to her sister over video calls. Pradeep loved her to bits. So did Riya.

Then in May this year, Pradeep Kumar’s world, and his dreams came crashing down.

The 24-year-old was arrested for helping a Pakistani spy. Military intelligence officers who took him into custody told him that he had walked right into a honeytrap.

His love, Riya, was not an Indian army officer but a spy for Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence. An officer – one of the many who interrogated Pradeep Sharma to make an assessment of the damage that he had done – recalled how Pradeep did not believe that the woman who first reached out to him in January 2021 was a spy.

“She can’t do this?… You people are mistaken… She might be under some pressure… Please take me to Bangalore, I will ask her to share her location,” the officer said quoting Pradeep to indicate how he couldn’t believe them for many days despite showing him some of the evidence they had.

Riya had told him that she was given a desk job, something that she said, she was not good at and often sought help; samples of documents from his unit to see how it is done right.

Rajasthan Police officers said there are others who ended up destroying their life and jeopardising national security for love. Every second of the 28 people arrested for spying in Rajasthan since 2019 had been honeytrapped.

Like Shantimoy Rana, 24, who had made plans to get married in end of September. He is also behind bars.

Ankita, the woman who reached out to Shantimoy Rana in August 2021, also told him that she was in the army. “He wasn’t aware that she was a Pakistani agent. She even sent him ₹5,000 as a gift,” the officer said.

A second police officer said there were a pattern in how the women got in touch. It often started with a missed call, like the one that Pradeep Kumar spotted on his phone in January 2021. He called back and they got talking.

The modus operandi is similar.

“They give missed calls or get in touch through social media, thereafter call every day through video and voice chats and get emotionally close to the person. They seduce the soldiers, share nude clips and trick them to part with confidential information and documents,” the officer said.

Not everyone they target is in the army. Nitin Yadav, arrested in April 2022, worked with a contractor who supplied fruits and vegetables to the army base. “He used to send the photo of bills or demands of items raised by the army, which helped the Pakistani agents assess the strength at the base,” the officer said.

Kuldeep Singh, arrested last month, allegedly created a fake identity on Facebook as a female and befriended army men to get information, which he shared with his Pakistani agent. He used to work at a liquor shop.

“Singh was honey trapped, but he didn’t have anything to share. So to continue the relationship, he created a fake account on Facebook and befriended armymen, and tried get information… . He was also given money,” said the officer.

For them, everyone has some utility. Sometimes they befriend people for help to get, say a mobile SIM card.

“Narayan, who was arrested in July allegedly provided SIM cards of Indian telecom companies to be used by Pakistani handlers to run social media accounts. He sent SIMs to Mount Abu, where it was further sent to Delhi, Mumbai and Dubai – for every SIM, he was given ₹3,000-5,000,” he said.

Additional Director General of police (security), S Sengathir, said there had been several cases of Pakistan Intelligence operatives, especially women, getting in touch with defence personnel and civilians via Whatsapp to get information.

“Such activities are increasing and we have decided to go for large-scale monitoring, technically and also through human intelligence,” he said. “Constantly, Pakistan operatives in this net were identified and hundreds of people were identified and interrogated. This year, around eight cases were registered.”

Sengathir said people living in border areas were particularly targeted, not just those in the military. “We are trying to increase awareness, especially in border areas. Not just us but the army and paramilitary forces at their level are trying to create awareness among soldiers and the public. They have been asked to inform local police and department on receiving any suspicious call,” Sengathir added.

A senior army official, who was not willing to be named, said the army has a policy for social media, which from time to time has been revised. The use of social media platforms is banned in the army and personnel are asked to refrain from its use. “The personnel are sensitized, and we have our own internal and external surveillance, which include intelligence gathering and cyber check,” he said.