Son of Army man became an ISI agent on Facebook by befriending ‘Anushka Chopra’

All the information that Vikas Kumar had sent was received from Chiman Lal, a contract civil servant. The operation was interrupted due to the lockdown, but both of them continued to send information to Pakistan.

• One of the arrested people is Vikas Kumar (29)

• The second ISI agent is named Chiman Lal (22)

On the basis of information from Military Intelligence (MI), Rajasthan Police on Monday arrested two agents working for the Pakistani intelligence agency ISI. Both of them have been arrested for spying for Pakistani intelligence agency.

One of the arrested persons is Vikas Kumar (29), who was employed as a Civil Defense Employee in the Army Ammunition Depot near Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan. The other name is Chiman Lal (22), who was a civilian contract employee of the Army’s Mahajan Field Firing Range (MFFR), Bikaner.

This operation was extremely important in every sense, as both the Army’s ammunition depot and the Mahajan Field Firing Range are both strategically important military installations in Western India.

According to the information, in August 2019, Lucknow-based Military Intelligence came to know through detectives that a spy agent near Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan was sending military information to his handlers in Pakistan. This agent was identified as Vikas Kumar (29), working as a Civil Defense Employee at the Army Ammunition Depot near Sri Ganganagar.

Vikas Kumar was getting money in three bank accounts

Military Intelligence got information that Vikas Kumar is in touch with a Facebook account named ‘Anushka Chopra’ which was operating from Multan in Pakistan. Vikas Kumar was implicated in the web by a Pakistani Intelligence Operative (PIO) using this Facebook profile. Intelligence officials came to know that Vikas Kumar was sending sensitive information of the army. It was also learned that he was receiving money in three bank accounts of Vikas Kumar.

All the information that Vikas Kumar had sent was received from Chiman Lal, a contract civil servant. The operation was interrupted due to the lockdown, but both of them continued to send information to Pakistan.

Finally in the first week of May, this information was shared with the Rajasthan Police. The joint team of Rajasthan Police Intelligence and Lucknow Military Intelligence together closely examined all the information about these two and collected evidence. Both were eventually arrested.

Vikas Kumar is a resident of Mukandgarh in Jhunjhunu district of Rajasthan and is the son of a retired armyman. Chiman Lal is a resident of Mahajan of Bikaner district. Both were arrested from Jaipur on 8 June.

Anushka Chopra’s friendship and honey trap

During the interrogation after the arrest, Vikas Kumar allegedly confessed that he received a friend request in March / April, 2019 from the Facebook profile of ISI handler “Anushka Chopra” and accepted the request. In a short time, they became friends with each other and the two shared each other’s WhatsApp number. After this they started chatting and audio / video calls among themselves.

The Pakistani handler claimed that she works in the headquarters of the canteen store department in Mumbai and was using an Indian WhatsApp number. At his behest, Vikas Kumar joined several WhatsApp groups. She was herself in all these groups and also had many working civil security personnel.

Anushka introduced Vikas Kumar to her boss Amit Kumar Singh, which was the fake name of the Pakistani handler. He was also using Indian WhatsApp number. When Vikas started talking to Amit, Anushka blocked him with his Facebook and WhatsApp.

Meanwhile, Pakistani handler Amit Kumar Singh convinced Vikas Kumar to give information related to the army in exchange for money. From April 2019, Vikas Kumar was giving information to this handler. Most of the information that Vikas Kumar sent, was received through Chiman Lal.