IAF denies 'espionage' incident

"The IAF strongly denies the media report written on the basis of hearsay. The report is full of untruth. At that senior level, no sensitive information is discussed over phone," IAF spokesperson Wing Commander T K Singha said here.

However, he said, the report of a circular on information security from the Defence Ministry's chief security officer routinely alerted officials, both in the Ministry and the Services headquarters, and warned them about the risks of discussing security matters over phone.

A top IAF officer, who was posed a question in this regard during a media interaction at the Air headquarters last month, had vehemently denied that a "foreign embassy official" had obtained information from an IAF officer.

He had said the Ministry and the Services had "the wherewithal and the technology" to trace any call received and to identify if it was from a friend or foe.

"So the question of given away sensitive information to unauthorised persons does not arise," the officer had said.

A Defence Ministry official, when contacted, said a report had first appeared in a Defence magazine in June, which was based on hearsay and was untrue.

He said whenever sensitive information was requisitioned by Ministry officials, it had to be done in a written format and a written response was provided "with the requisite classification of security."