Who Is Sumit Kumar? 36-Year-Old Civilian Air Force Staffer Arrested For Spying, Sending Sensitive Files To Pakistan, Here’s What Information He Leaked

Pakistani Spy Gets Arrested: On Sunday, a civilian employee was caught in the Chabua Air Force Station in Assam spying on behalf of Pakistan. Police have since named the suspect as 36-year-old Sumit Kumar, who is considered to have given sensitive Air Force intelligence to agents, according to ANI.

Air Force Intelligence, working together with New Delhi and a team of Rajasthan Intelligence, have been credited with his arrest.

Upon his arrest, Kumar was taken to the Central Interrogation Centre at Jaipur. His arrest case was filed on different provisions of the Official Secrets Act, 1923, and BNS, 2023.

Who is Sumit Kumar?

At the moment of his arrest, the 36-year-old suspect was serving in the Air Force Station in Chabua, Dibrugarh, Assam, as a Multi-Tasking Staff (MTS).

Kumar found himself in the centre of a huge operation, which had its origins back in January. According to an official news release, Prafulla Kumar, Additional Director General of Police (intelligence), indicated that eventually, Sumit was arrested after Jhabararam, a resident of Jaisalmer, was arrested in January.

The police could subsequently arrest Kumar after interrogating Jhabararam and their special probe, which linked the kid to a broader group of spies pointing at a supposed Pakistani connection. 

The release was later emphasised by the official that Kumar was suspected to have been under continual communication with Pakistani intelligence agencies in 2023.

Detection of the financial gain. Investigators have since accused Kumar of leaking confidential information to the supposed agency in Pakistan in exchange for money.

According to the information about the interrogation that has been disclosed till now, the suspect did not simply allegedly leak out the information about the Air Force Station in Chabua, but also about other military bases, such as the Air Force Station in Nal (Bikaner district).

The news release accuses Kumar of leaking information about the positions of fighter planes, missiles and other classified information that is associated with staff.

Furthermore, it is alleged that Sumit assisted Pakistani handlers in making social media accounts under his name using mobile numbers.

What sensitive information was leaked by Sumit Kumar?

Based on investigators, Kumar was also said to have distributed extremely sensitive information concerning the Indian Air Force operations and infrastructure.

This contained the information regarding the whereabouts of fighter planes, the placement of missile systems as well as the internal designs of Air Force bases.

He is also suspected of relaying information pertaining to people such as officers and staff, which may be dangerous in terms of security. When leaked to malevolent groups, such information may destroy readiness to operate and their strategic plans.

The authorities think that the information was relayed via social media and messaging applications and can thus be more difficult to track down in real time. 

The use of electronic media to make such exchanges has also complicated the investigation as agencies strive to intercept and extract electronic evidence.

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