Honeytrap: Indian engineer leaks classified info to 'Pakistani' female spy

An Indian engineer associated with a sensitive organisation was honey-trapped by a purported Pakistani female spy who successfully acquired details of the Indian missile development from the former.

Mallikarjuna Reddy, 29, was lured by the woman over a promise of marriage after the two met on Facebook, BBC Urdu reported.

Reddy, an employee of the Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL), was at the time working on an advanced naval system programme.

It started through a friend request from a Facebook user with the name Natasha Rao, who told Reddy she was an employee at a UK defence journal.

Once he accepted the request, 'Rao' told Reddy that her father had served Indian Air Force (IAF).

Also read:The honeytrap and the (gullible) Indian Air Force

The two eventually "fell in love", with the woman proposing Reddy and asking for the aforesaid details.

The alleged leakage of sensitive information continued for more than a year before the bond between the two went cold and 'Natasha Rao' changed her name to Simran Chopra.

In 2018, an IAF officer was apprehended in Delhi on charges of espionage and leaking classified information.

Group Captain Arun Marwaha, 51, was caught leaking documents to two agents who chatted with him pretending to be women.

The officer, an employee at the IAF headquarters, was charged under the Official Secrets Act.