Tag Archives: ISI

3 Scientists detained after papers leaked to ISI

ET Bureau|Updated: Oct 09, 2018,
New Delhi: Two scientists from the Defence Research and Development Organisation and one from Brahmos Aerospace have been detained for allegedly leaking confidential documents to a suspected Pakistan-based ISI agent after becoming targets of a honeytrap.

Two of the scientists are working with the DRDO’s Defence Materials and Stores Research and Development Establishment in Kanpur. The third scientist is working at a Brahmos unit in Nagpur, which is involved in making critical components for the missile, according to sources.

The missile, which is supersonic, can be fired from submarines, ships, aircraft or land. This person had been working at the Technical Research Section of the Nagpur unit for several years.

The three scientists were active on some social media sites, where they were allegedly compromised.

The Military Intelligence wing of the Central Army Command had been examining their activities on these sites and figured that they had allegedly become targets of honeytrap.
It is suspected that the scientists had transferred some confidential documents to an ISI agent, who was pretending to be a woman, according to sources.
The Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra ATS were alerted about the matter and the scientists were thereafter detained.

The computers of the three individuals have been seized and the authorities are questioning their associates.

Defence Secrets in Danger

By Pradip R Sagar
Published: 26th Apr 2015 06:00:00 AM -The Sunday Standard
DRDO logo1It’s akin to contract killing of the country’s defence research establishments. With their easy access to classified and secret information, thousands of people working on contractual or temporary basis in India’s top secret defence projects have turned out to be the biggest threat to national security. A spate of arrests for spying has alarmed the government. But the country’s premier defence research agency—Defence Research and Development Organisation—has a strength of more than 50,000 temporary or casual employees who have complete access to all its classified and research activities.
The recent arrest of a photographer employed on contractual basis at DRDO’s Integrated Test Range in Chandipur (Odisha) for passing confidential information on various missiles test-fired from Wheeler Island to his ISI conduit in Kolkata has raised the alarm bells in the corridors of the Ministry of Defence (MoD).Sunday-Standard-26 April - 2May-2015 pic

Soon after, a contractual employee working for the MoD was picked up by the Delhi Police for espionage. The issue put South Block in panic mode and an alert was issued in March, which clearly said that ‘Contractual/ casual employees should not be posted in sensitive locations and not allowed to given access to the classified information’.
A senior defence ministry official recalled how a high-level inquiry was ordered during AK Antony’s tenure as defence minister in 2010 into the episode of giving out a critical missile design project to a private contractor by a top DRDO scientist.
Despite such cases in the past, over 55 laboratories of the DRDO, mandated to develop products and technologies to modernise our armed forces ranging from missiles to combat aircraft, have roped in over 50,000 casual employees to assist scientists. According to an insider, contractual employees are generally hired under two categories—technical and non-technical.Sunday-Standard-26 April - 2May-2015