Soldier from Signals honey trapped, Military intelligence & UP ATS crack another case

UP ATS( Anti Terror squad) arrested a retired soldier, Signalman Saurabh Sharma, who was honey trapped by Pakistan’s spy agency, ISI. It is to be noted that the soldier belonged to Indian Army Corps of Signals which handles military communications.

During his questioning he revealed, revealed that he on Facebook came in touch with the Pakistani Intelligence Operative in 2014 who initially introduced ‘herself’ as a defence journalist. This pattern of a female approaching soldiers as defence journalist was seen in myriads of recent arrests of moles.

Saurabh Sharma had shared several sensitive military information by 2016 in return of money. Sharma used to share information in form of text, audio and photo messages and also on call mostly using WhatsApp. It is reported that he has received several payments from his handlers. The soldier was discharged from Army in June, 2020 for medical reasons.

In Nov 2020 officials of Lucknow Military intelligence had received inputs indicating involvement of retired Signalman Saurabh Sharma in espionage activities. The details were shared with UP ATS in early December and a joint probe was initiated. The operation was named–Operation Cross-Connection.

Last year many cases of honey trap had emerged, from HAL and from defence forces, with the most being arrested in Operation Dolphin’s nose, when 13 Navy personals were arrested.

The suspect, retired Signalman Saurabh Sharma (among his multiple payments in lieu of the sensitive information shared) had received a payment of Rs 4000/- electronically in February 2020

This amount was transferred to Saurabh’s account by Anas Giteli son of Yakub Giteli resident of Panchmahal, Godhra, Gujarat.

A team of UP ATS has also arrested Anas Giteli from his residence. He was examined at UP ATS HQ and presently in Judicial Custody.

Interestingly, it is reported that Anas Giteli’s elder brother, Imraan Giteli (37 years), was earlier arrested by NIA Hyderabad in September 2020 in the infamous Vishakhapatnam Espionage Case for his involment in sending money to naval personnel who were sending critical information to a Pakistani agency. Read more about Operation in Vishakhapatnam here>>> Operation Dolphin’s Nose, 14 People Including An ISI Spy & Indian Navy Personnel Arrested So Far