Following yet another incident of possible leak of crucial army secrets, Indian Military intelligence officials have detained three Army officers, including a colonel at the Army War College, Mhow, for sharing secret information with a woman during sexually explicit Facebook chats.
According to media reports, on August 11, the office of the Directorate General of Military Intelligence (DGMI) had sent an internal memo to all Army commands disclosing the names of three officers for their involvement in the security breach. They are alleged to have disclosed their own identity and details of ‘Order of Battle’ formations of the Indian Army during salacious Facebook chats with a woman suspected to be of Indian origin.
The three officers, including the colonel of mechanised infantry currently posted in the Army War College, Mhow, a major of 2 Rajput and a lieutenant of the Army Ordnance Corps presently attached with 3 Rajput, were found prima facie involved in such an activity knowing fully well that they are violating the security protocol of the military establishment, according to a military intelligence directorate letter.
The case reportedly came to light after screenshots of the FB chats were circulated on WhatsApp.
The ‘Order of Battle’ details include, according to TNIE, the hierarchical composition, command structure, strength, disposition of personnel and equipment of units and formations of the armed force.
"It looks like an online honey-trap since they were lured into the chats by a person posing as an attractive woman, who had posted suggestive pictures, on Facebook. The officers were having sexually explicit chats with the person, who in exchange often asked them specific information about the location of units and brigades," a source told the Times of India.
In May last year, the army had refused to liberalize its social media policy to maintain operational security and amidst worries of leakage of confidential data.