Spy story: The ‘Army officer’ who took ISI for a ride

A man from Rajasthan, who donned Indian Army uniform to impress women on social media, found himself in real-world intrigue when his fake online persona saw him recruited by a foreign spy agency which sent him on espionage missions.

Jitendra Singh, the Rajasthani at the centre of this remarkable tale, was finally arrested on Friday at Jolly Mohalla, Cottonpet, in Bengaluru in a joint raid by the Central Crime Branch (CCB) and Military Intelligence (MI).

According to Military Intelligence sources, it all began in 2016 when 24-year-old Jitendra, a clothier from Barmer and desperate for women’s attention, procured army uniform from a second-hand veterans’ store in Rajasthan and began impersonating an officer on social media.

“His initial intention was to appeal to women online. He was posing as an officer trainee in the Indian Army. He knew exactly where the various accoutrements and insignia needed to be placed on the uniform,” a Military Intelligence source said.

In a short time, Jitendra allegedly attracted the attention of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and was set for a life he could have never foreseen in his wildest dreams.

Police and army sources say Jitendra was first contacted on Facebook in March 2016 by a woman named ‘Pooja Ji’, who claimed to be living in Himachal Pradesh, but whose IP address was later traced to Karachi, Pakistan.

By that time, Jitendra was living in Bengaluru as a distributor of shirts. The ISI seems to have genuinely believed that he was a serviceman and did not appear to have questioned his online persona. A selfie taken as recent as May 2021 shows Jitendra wearing the insignia of a captain.

Army sources said that ‘Pooja’ gave him money to send back intelligence. From ISI’s perspective, this was a successful “honeypot” operation. They were so taken in by this imposter, sources said.

Law enforcement officials have uncovered evidence that Jitendra tracked Indian Army tank movements in Barmer, catalogued changes to guard posts at Pokhran and took photos of frontier bases at Longewala. He is also noted to have taken images of other sensitive locations across the country, including in Delhi.

Records also show that he was flying regularly to various cities in the country.

Jitendra first came to the attention of Military Intelligence in July 2021 when spy networks set up by the ISI were busted in several locations across the country. “We discovered more evidence of Jitendra’s link to the network when one operative caught recently in Ludhiana was sending sensitive materials via WhatsApp to a person named ‘Neha’. It was the same phone number used by ‘Pooja’,” an army source said.

Sandeep Patil, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime), said they have evidence to charge Jitendra under the Official Secrets Act. “He was also charged for possession of an army uniform which was being misused. He has been charged with committing offences under Section 120B in the Indian Penal Code,” Patil said.

Watch latest videos by DH here: