A 32-year-old man working as a manager at a Defence Research and Development Organisation or DRDO guest house in Jaisalmer was arrested Wednesday for allegedly spying for Pakistan.
The accused man, Mahendra Prasad, working as a contractual employee at the guest house for the last five years, had access to personal information, like emails and telephone numbers, of the top scientists, which he is accused to have shared with Pakistan.
After a week of intense joint interrogation, the accused was arrested by the Rajasthan police and taken in for a two-day police custody.
Mahendra Prasad was the manager at the top secret DRDO guest house inside the Chandan Field firing range in Jaisalmer.
This guest house hosts India's top scientists when they come to Pokhran and Chandan for experiments and testing of India's missile and defence systems. No civilian is allowed inside its premises.
Its location, somewhere inside the Chandan field firing range, remains a mystery.
Intelligence Bureau sources expressed surprise that a person on contract, an outsider, was given the task of managing a high-security guest house. MR Enterprises, a private company, was given the lease to run this guest house, hosting India's top scientists working on secret projects.
"It's a serious security breach that as Manager of the guest house Mahendra Prasad was privy to information via letters and emails informing him about the guests who would be visiting Chandan with their names, ranks and in some cases personal details like mobile numbers," a top source told NDTV.
The accused had information about scientists and defence personnel staying at the guest house.
Sources say Mahendra Prasad passed on this information, in some cases entire emails, to his Pakistani handlers via social media channels and WhatsApp.
His handler in Pakistan was a "colonel" with whom he communicated via WhatsApp, say sources.
Chandan and Pokhran are two sites in the Thar desert where significant and crucial testing of new weapons and missile systems is held.
Mahendra Prasad had access to emails about scientists or defence personnel staying in the guest house, what are their ranks and posts and the duration of their stay.
He also knew if a group of scientists were visiting who would be the leader and who would be the subordinates in the team, information that could compromise national security especially since, say sources.
Sources added that the may have given the enemy country a fair idea of the trials for defence systems going on in Chandan and Pokhran.
The Pinaka Rocket system was one of the projects IB sources believe Mahendra Prasad could have leaked information on. The Pinaka rocket system was tested in Pokhran in April 2022 and again in August 2022.
Two phones have been recovered from the accused, who is a native of Uttarakhand.
A forensic analysis of his phone has revealed that he was in touch with his Pakistani operatives.
Investigating agencies are yet to trace the money trail. However, they suspect that he could have been paid in cash.
Mahendra Prasad was working at the DRDO guest house during Operation Sindoor, India's counterstrike for the April 22 terror attack in J&K's Pahalgam, as well, making his arrest all the more crucial for intelligence agencies.
