Army probes information leak from Western Command

The Army, in collaboration with Patiala Police, is investigating the scope of the information which has been leaked and how the jawan gained access to it.

Sources said that a cyber and physical audit of all secret presentations and documents stored in the computers and in physical storage in the shape of compact discs and pen drives was undertaken over the past few days at the Western Command Headquarters. Many officers were also questioned. It is also learnt that the Army Headquarters, New Delhi, has sought a report from the Western Command.

Patiala SSP Varun Sharma, whose team unearthed this spy-smuggler network, told The Indian Express that the Army soldier had earlier spent some time in Kaithal Jail after an FIR was lodged against him in connection with an unrelated dispute. It is suspected that here he was introduced to some criminals who put him in touch with Amrik Singh. It is now being investigated whether the Army authorities were aware of the soldier’s time behind bars.

“We had arrested Amrik Singh in a drugs case and we conducted forensics investigation on his mobile phone where a lot of secret and sensitive information of the Army was stored. We interrogated him and he confessed that he was in touch with Sepoy Manpreet Sharma who passed on the information to him,” said the SSP. He said an ISI handler using the pseudonym of Sher Khan was in touch with Amrik and he was the one to whom the secret information was being passed on to. “We have taken Amrik as well as the Army jawan on police remand and are questioning them,” said the SSP.

Responding to a query, Western Command authorities said details of leaked information are being ascertained. They denied that the accused worked in the Operations Room of the Command HQ. “The jawan was not working in the Ops Room but in one of the branches of Command HQs,” said the Command in its reply to a question.