Punjab Police Arrest Indian Army Soldier for Allegedly Sharing Sensitive Info With Pakistan's ISI Through Drug Smuggler

Digital Desk: The Punjab Police apprehended an army soldier serving as a computer operator at the Western Command's Chandimandir headquarters for allegedly transferring key information to Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) through a drug dealer. 

Manpreet Sharma, a Bhopal resident, has been identified as the defendant. His actions became public after the arrest of Amrik Singh, a narcotics dealer from Patiala, in May 2022.

On Wednesday, Patiala Police in Punjab detained and remanded a soldier for five days on suspicion of passing critical Indian Army information to ISI via a high-profile drug smuggler.

Aside from Manpreet Sharma's arrest and remand, police received a five-day remand on Wednesday for narcotics smuggler Amrik Singh of Patiala, who was housed in Patiala jail and brought on a production warrant.

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According to the authorities, the accused soldier admitted to passing information to ISI five times in the last few years.

As per ANI reports, concerning the incident Varun Sharma, SSP Patiala gave his statement enclosing, "We arrested a drug smuggler named Amrik and sensitive information of the Indian Army was recovered from his phone. During interrogation, he said that he got this information from a soldier named Manpreet Sharma. Our team arrested him from Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. He admitted that he had given this information to Amrik... Preliminary investigation has revealed that (the information) was shared with Pakistan."

According to Patiala SSP Varun Sharma, Manpreet Sharma, 27, of Balvehra village in Patiala district, remained posted in the Indian Army's Pathankot and Chandimandir headquarters and in some way have gained access to the Indian Army's computers.

"The accused, Manpreet Sharma, physically handed over the CDs to drug peddler Amrik Singh, who then passed on that critical Indian Army information to ISI. Soldier Manpreet provided drug peddler Amrik Singh with favours, including money," claimed SSP Varun Sharma.

"We had inter-agency coordination and immediately contacted the military intelligence and IB for further investigation after Manpreet's name surfaced during the interrogation of drug smuggler Amrik Singh," he added. 

Further inquiry is underway to determine how Manpreet obtained access to critical Indian Army data and to whom he provided information in Pakistan. During interrogation, Manpreet admitted to "providing confidential Indian Army information to narcotics trader Amrik Singh five times." 

"In 2016, Manpreet was recruited as a driver in the Indian Army." We are looking for information regarding the locations where he was stationed. Both Manpreet and Amrik met through a mutual friend, Jagdeep, but Manpreet ended up handling Amrik later on. Jagdeep had no part to play. "It had already come to light in previous interrogations of Amrik that he had links with terrorist Harwinder Singh Rinda," stated SSP Patiala.

However, additional inquiry may reveal the involvement of other people.

The police are examining the case alongside the Indian Army and IB intelligence. A complaint under the Official Secrets Act was also filed against both of the accused, who appeared in local court on Wednesday.