Sleuths of Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad claimed to have arrested a Border Security Force (BSF) constable on the charge sharing defence secrets with the agents of Pakistan ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence). He was honey-trapped on the social media by a woman who claimed to be a defence reporter.

The BSF constable, identified as Achutanand Mishra, was arrested from Noida recently and the ATS produced him before the media here on Wednesday. He was later produced in a local court which remanded him to police custody for five days starting from Wednesday night.

Giving details of the breakthrough here on Wednesday, Director General of Police OP Singh said the BSF constable was lured by a woman from Egypt and he sent her several vital information of defence and BSF in violation of Officials Secret Act. The woman was reportedly working for Pakistani espionage agency ISI.

The DGP said that information about the constable was passed on to UP Police by the Military Intelligence agency in Chandigarh after which they trapped the constable in Noida two days back.

The accused, a native of Rewa in Madhya Pradesh, joined the BSF in 2006 and has two children. He came into contact with the woman in 2016 through social media site. The woman told him that she was a defence reporter of a newspaper.

As they became friends, the woman started chatting with him on phone and influenced the constable to share defence secrets with her. “He reportedly shared information about unit location, details of ammunition and pictures of the BSF camp,” the DGP said.

Later, Mishra started WhatsApp chat with a phone number registered in Pakistan and the details of the conversation indicate that he was being influenced on conversion and Kashmir, the DGP said.

The Pakistani number was saved in his mobile phone as “Pakistani dost” (friend), the DGP said, but declined to divulge the number to the media on which Misra had been chatting.

Misra has accepted his crime and several cyber evidences have been found through his phone and Facebook account, the DGP said.

A case under sections 3/4/5/9 of the Official Secrets Act, section 121(A) of the Indian Penal Code and 66D of the IT Act was registered against the BSF constable.

The DGP said that information regarding who all were with him in this network, the motivation which led him into sharing information, whether he got money in return as well and his accounts would be checked.

It will also be ascertained what information he has passed on and what damage has been caused because of it.