President terminates services of Army Major posted with Strategic Forces Command unit

These orders were issued on September 15 and promulgated earlier this month at the Strategic Forces Command Unit where the Major was posted in North India.

The Army investigation into the Major’s activities had been carried out since March 2022 when a Board of Officers was formed to investigate matters relating to the compromise of national security by the officer.

The Board of Officers was authorised by the Strategic Forces Command to seize digital devices and carry out an initial investigation about the likely involvement of the Major in suspicious activities/social media violations/any security-related concerns, sharing/ leakage of classified info with unauthorised persons, suspicious financial transactions, and his likely involvement in espionage activities.

It was also tasked with investigating all aspects concerning the counterintelligence angle and other related aspects that merit investigation.

Sources said it was found that the Major had kept a copy of secret documents on his electronic devices which was against the Army’s regulations. He was also in touch with a Pakistani intelligence operative through social media chats, they added.

The friendship of the Major with other senior officers of the Army, some of whom were members of a WhatsApp chat group called ‘Patiala Peg’, was also investigated. He was reportedly called as a witness in the Court of Inquiry held against some officers in this respect.

Meanwhile, the Army is learnt to have issued a show cause notice to a Brigadier and a Lieutenant Colonel for administrative/disciplinary action for violation of social media policies and being members of a WhatsApp group where objectionable content was being shared.

The Indian Express had reported in July 2022 that the Army was investigating four of its officers for being members of the WhatsApp group ‘Patiala Peg’. Three officers were suspended at the time pending investigations. Two suspended Army officers were posted in the Military Intelligence (MI) Directorate in Army HQs, New Delhi, while the third was an Instructor at Defence Services Staff College, Wellington. The fourth officer was posted in Mumbai.

It was suspected that the WhatsApp group, ‘Patiala Peg’ of which these officers were members, had been infiltrated by a Pakistan Intelligence Operative (PIO) and there was an investigation to find out if any classified military information had been shared by anyone.

The mobile phones and other personal digital assets of these four officers were seized by Army authorities in March 2022 at the direction of the Directorate General of Military Intelligence (DGMI).