Daijiworld Media Network – Mumbai
Mumbai, May 30: A 27-year-old mechanical engineer from Thane has been arrested by Maharashtra’s Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) for allegedly leaking sensitive information about Indian warships and submarines to a Pakistani intelligence operative, police said.
The accused, Ravindra Verma, a resident of Kalwa, was arrested on Wednesday. He worked as a junior engineer with a defence technology firm and had access to the Naval Dockyard in south Mumbai. Officials said he shared classified details through sketches, diagrams, and audio notes, and received payments from both Indian and foreign bank accounts in return.
Verma was reportedly honey-trapped by a Pakistani agent posing as a woman on Facebook through accounts named Payal Sharma and Ispreet. Initially claiming to be working on a research project, the agent lured him into conversations and gradually extracted crucial information.
“Despite restrictions on using mobile phones inside the dockyard, Verma sketched diagrams after his visits and shared them along with audio notes,” an ATS official said.
Investigators believe Verma had been in contact with the agent since November 2024 and knowingly passed on classified naval data, including names of warships and submarines.
He has been remanded to ATS custody till Monday for further interrogation.