Senior Jammu and Kashmir policeman suspended for giving sensitive information to Pakistan

A senior policeman in Jammu and Kashmir has been suspended after he inadvertently passed on sensitive information about India's security arrangements to Pakistan. The erring officer has been identified as Deputy Superintendent of Police (Armed Police Control Room) Tanveer Ahmad.

Ahmad has been accused of passing on details of security arrangements and deployments in the state to Pakistani agents over a period of time, but it has now emerged that he may have done so without knowing that the people he was giving this information to were Pakistani agents. He is believed to have fallen prey to a ruse the Pakistani side has been known to use often to extract such information.

The ruse entails Pakistani agents calling up different sections of the Indian security establishment posing as members of other security forces asking for information on safety measures and security deployments. While most people on the Indian side see through this, and even otherwise ask the caller to approach them through proper channels for this information, it appears that Ahmad did not do so.

That he was being contacted regularly by people from the Pakistani side was first observed by the home ministry. When contacted from the Pakistani side, Ahmad reportedly shared details on social media messenger WhatsApp a couple of weeks ago.

The Home Ministry, which was monitoring the situation in the state following protracted violence and unrest, took note of the communication, traced the recipient number to Pakistan and passed on this information to the higher echelons of the Jammu and Kashmir Police.

Subsequently, J&K Director General of Police (DGP) K Rajendra Kumar has placed the DSP on suspension and ordered a probe into how the lapse happened and what information was passed on to the Pakistani side. For now, Ahmad has been accused of negligence.