Honey trap: MHA official arrested for leaking G20 summit secrets

Ghaziabad Police suspect woman to be part of a honey trap operation orchestrated by handlers in Pakistan

| Updated: 11 July, 2023 3:20 pm IST

Ghaziabad Police arrested the employee who lives near Crossing Republic

NEW DELHI: Ghaziabad Police arrested an employee of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for allegedly sharing confidential information related to the G20 Summit with a Pakistani woman who posed herself as a woman from Kolkata.

The security agencies have suspected it to be a case of a honey trap set by Pakistan-based handlers.

The accused, identified as Navin Pal, befriended the woman, who pretended to be Anjali from Kolkata, a year ago via Facebook. Pal works in MHA on a contract basis, said a police official.

Sources from the Ghaziabad Police said Pal used to talk to her almost every day. The woman, ‘Anjali’ offered him around ₹80,000 for the documents. However, he got ₹5,000 for sharing a few confidential documents related to the G20 Summit and the Home Ministry.

Pal lives near Ghaziabad’s Crossing Republic with his family. He has been questioned by multiple agencies to ascertain the facts and extract all documents and information he shared with the ‘woman’.

The Ghaziabad Police sources said that their cyber team experts, with the help of security agencies, conducted a check of a few accounts that were under suspicion. In the meantime, they spotted Pal’s Facebook account and subsequently, he was picked up.

The police said that Pal has revealed that he used to talk with ‘Anjali’ through Facebook. His mobile has been confiscated and further investigations are underway.

The agencies suspected that the account of ‘Anjali’ was being operated by some Pakistani handlers to access secret information about India.

During the course of the investigation, the agencies found that the account was being operated from Karachi, Pakistan. The accused will be produced in Ghaziabad court today and later, the police will seek his custody for further interrogation.

The police have also suspected the role of some other officials who might be providing secret documents to Pal.