Two more soldiers held in alleged data breach in Northern Command

The Army has widened its probe into an alleged case of a data breach in the Northern Command, with the role of two more soldiers being investigated after an Army man was found leaking sensitive information to Pakistani operatives last month.

Sources told DH that the role of two other soldiers hailing from different battalions and posted elsewhere is being probed after their involvement surfaced during the Court of Inquiry (CoI) involving one soldier from the Northern Command.

The General Officer Commanding of Nagrota-based 16-Corps is the presiding officer of the CoI along with two Major Generals as members. “The two soldiers were reportedly in the drug trade as users or sellers, which is being probed. Though posted at different places, all three soldiers were stated to be in touch with each other,” sources said, adding that all three now have been arrested for questioning.

Also read: Soldier caught leaking information to Pakistani operatives, probe ordered

“It was through the drug route that Pakistani intelligence operatives allegedly enticed the Army jawans into gathering intelligence,” sources said while declining to name the soldiers caught for data breach and drug racket.

The data breach took place when the soldier from Punjab and posted under Udhampur-based Northern Command was caught by officials dealing with the alleged issue. After the incident came to light, a CoI was ordered to probe how the soldier could get access to the data and the extent to which it was leaked to the operatives of Pakistani agencies.

The data breach had reportedly taken place when the Indian Army was engaged in a military stand-off with the People's Liberation Army of China in the Ladakh region. The Udhampur-based Northern Command is in charge of security on both China and Pakistan borders in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh sectors.