Mumbai: The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has arrested a 31-year-old structural fabricator from Mazgaon Dockyard for allegedly leaking sensitive information to Pakistani intelligence operatives (PIOs). The ATS has registered a case under the Official Secrets Act against Kalpesh Baikar and one Sonali Sharma, who is a PIO with a fake name based in Pakistan. Baikar was arrested and produced in the holiday court on Sunday. The court granted ATS remand till March 14.
Baikar allegedly leaked details of warship INS Udaygiri, several submarines and warships after falling into the honey trap laid by Ms Sharma on Facebook. She targeted him since he had mentioned being an employee of the naval shipyard. According to officials, he shared handmade printed diagrams of the INS Udaygiri deck and other warships and submarines that came to the naval dockyard for repair and upgradation.
Baikar was appointed as a structural fabricator at the naval dockyard in November 2020-21 on a contractual basis, and his contract was extended three times at Mazgaon Dock and he was in touch with Ms Sharma between November 2021 to May 2023.
Baikar had worked on the deck of the Nilgiri-class guided missile frigate INS Udaygiri, during the repair and upgrading period. He allegedly collected details of the missiles, torpedoes, and related upgrading information, which are not available on in open domain and are considered classified information. He drew diagrams of INS Udaygiri deck and other warships and submarines on paper and allegedly shared them with the PIO.
The case is highly sensitive because two years ago, INS Udaygiri was commissioned into the Indian Navy as a frontline warship with modern technology, as part of the 'Project 17A' frigate programme. Launched in 2022 by defence minister Rajnath Singh, INS Udaygiri guided-missile boasted of improved stealth features, advanced weapons and sensors, and state-of-the-art platform management systems.
Sources suggested that Ms Sharma also sought details of warships and submarines berthed at MDL, the reasons for their presence, which ships were undergoing trials and the time taken for the upgrades.
The ATS retrieved several diagrams of warships and submarines from Kalpesh's Facebook chat book and WhatsApp, which he had deleted after sharing. They also retrieved chats with the PIO agent, where they were engaged in long, sweet, and obscene talks.
During the investigation, it came to light that Baikar had fallen into a trap set by PIO named Sonali Sharma, who deceitfully posed as a woman based in Dubai. Their initial contact was established on Facebook and later transitioned to WhatsApp, where Baikar, under the illusion of a budding romantic relationship, eagerly awaited a meeting that would never come, all the while being unaware of the PIO's true identity and nefarious intentions.
Sources revealed that Baikar received Rs. 2000 when he expressed a need for some money for personal expenses. The payment was made through a payment gateway from a suspicious bank account that had been inactive for a long time.
In December last year, ATS handled a similar case where Gaurav Patil, a trainee civil apprentice at Mazgaon Dock, was apprehended by the agency in a honey trap operation involving a PIO. The PIO agent trapped him using the names like Payal Angel and Arti Sharma, and accessed crucial details of warships and submarines.
