BHOPAL: Indian matrimonial portals may have emerged as a recruiting ground for the espionage agencies operating from across the border, says sources in the know.
The investigations into the suspected links of two young sisters of Mhow with ISI operatives indicate that the Pakistani agencies might be targeting Indian women looking for potential hubbies on matrimonial websites.
The two women, aged 28 and 32 respectively, have told their interrogators that three men from Pakistan contacted them through social media platforms after seeing their profiles on a prominent matchmaking web portal.
The two girls (whose father was an ex-serviceman) had uploaded their profiles on the matrimonial portal, scouting for grooms, preferably from the defence services.
A few days later, they were contacted by a Pakistani man, who told them that he was an army officer and had found their details from the marriage portal, sources said.
Subsequently, he put the two sisters in touch with two other men, one of whom claimed to be a naval officer. But all three of them could actually be ISI operatives based in Pakistan.
ìSince both the girls were from an army family and wanted to marry someone from the defence forces, the handlers from across the border found them ideal targets for collecting info on vital and strategic military installations in the state, particularly Mhow. One of the Pakistani men, with whom they connected through a video call, even promised to quit his job in Pakistan and settle with them in India, just to prove to one of the two sisters, how badly he was in love with her,î a key source connected with ongoing probe maintained.
†Itís quite possible that the ISI handlers-operatives could have registered themselves on the popular matchmaking sites and were looking for preys to conduct spying operations in India, sources added.
The names of the three Pakistani men, with whom the two Mhow sisters were in contact for months, had also cropped up during investigations into other spying cases, including ISI honey trap cases.
The investigators have so far found evidence of around 1500-2000 chats or video calls between the Pakistani men and the Mhow sisters and are trying to find out whether they sent pictures or††videos of various army facilities in Mhow, including the Army War College, to which they had access owing to their father being an ex-serviceman.
The two daughters of an ex-serviceman had uploaded their profiles on the matrimonial portal, scouting for grooms, preferably from the defence services. They were later contacted by a Pakistani man, who claimed himself to be an army officer. He then introduced the girls to two other men. All three were ISI operatives based in Pakistan. The names of the three Pakistani men had also cropped up during investigations into other spying cases, including ISI honey trap cases.
