Gujarat ATS arrests ex-Army Subedar and Woman for Sharing Sensitive info to Pak Spies

AHMEDABAD-  The Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Wednesday arrested a retired Indian Army Subedar and a woman from Ahmedabad on charges of espionage, accusing them of passing sensitive military information to Pakistani intelligence operatives.

The accused have been identified as Ajay kumar Singh Singh (47), a former Subedar who retired from the Indian Army and was residing in Nuvem, South Goa, and Rashmani Ravindra Pal Singh (35), a homemaker originally from Uttar Pradesh, currently living in Dadra and Nagar Haveli.

According to ATS officials, Ajay kumar was honey-trapped in 2022 by a Pakistani intelligence officer operating under the fake identity of “Ankita Sharma”, believed to be based in Multan and Sargodha in Pakistan.

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The retired soldier allegedly shared critical details about troop movements, regimental deployments and transfers of senior officers through WhatsApp in exchange for monetary payments.

Rashmani Ravindra Pal, posing as “Priya Thakur” on social media, acted as a key intermediary for two Pakistani handlers known as “Abdul Sattar” (based in Lahore) and “Khalid”, who used VPNs and Malaysian phone numbers to stay undetected. She allegedly targeted serving Army personnel, extracted confidential information about unit locations, war exercises and operational movements, and facilitated financial transactions by opening bank accounts to receive funds from across the border.

A senior ATS officer said, “Technical surveillance, human intelligence and tracking of financial transactions led us to this espionage network. Both accused were in regular contact with Pakistani handlers through encrypted applications.”

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During raids, the ATS recovered mobile phones containing WhatsApp chats and voice calls with international numbers, classified documents, photographs of military installations and evidence of monetary transactions.

An FIR has been registered against the duo under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including Section 61 (criminal conspiracy) and Section 148 (waging war or abetting waging of war against the Government of India), as well as provisions of the Official Secrets Act.

The arrests come amid a series of espionage cases busted by Gujarat ATS this year, including the detention of several low-level health workers and labourers from border areas who were found sharing troop movement details with ISI-linked operatives.

Further investigation is underway to identify other possible members of the network and the full extent of sensitive information compromised. Both accused are being interrogated at an undisclosed location.