Army officer grilled over suspected leak of classified information

The army is investigating a Lieutenant Colonel posted in the Army Base Workshop at Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh over suspected leak of classified information through IT devices, a Central Command spokesperson said here on Thursday.

His computer's hard disk, laptop and his mobile phone have been seized by Military Intelligence (MI) personnel.

According to a statement from the Indian Army's Central Command, headquartered in Lucknow, a preliminary inquiry was ordered on February 12 to ascertain the facts about the suspected leak of information from the officer's IT devices.

"It is, however, yet to be established whether it has happened inadvertently or deliberately, as reported," the statement said.

The officer had been questioned only as part of the ongoing inquiry and nothing else, and therefore, he was performing his routine duties in the unit, the statement said.

"Evidence related to the case including digital evidence has been seized and sent for further forensic analysis".

Reports of the detention of the officer, "honey trapping", money exchange, etc., at this stage could at best be described as pure speculation and neither accurate nor substantiated, the statement underlined.

"Details on the outcome of the inquiry will be intimated in due course as per the progress," it added.

The case assumes extra significance as it comes close on the heels of the arrest of Indian Air Force officer Arun Marwah on similar charges. Marwah was "honey-trapped" by girls and was sending classified information out of the country.

He was questioned for 10 days and then remanded to 14-day judicial custody.

--IANS

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