Jammu: Jammu and Kashmir Police have booked the wife of an Army officer for alleged espionage-related activities, including claims that she prepared analytical papers on sensitive national security issues for individuals suspected of links to Chinese intelligence agencies, officials said on Sunday.
The accused, a well-qualified resident of Telangana who undertook an IT internship with the United Nations in 2023, is currently working as a freelance researcher. She has not been arrested but has been questioned following the registration of the FIR and is cooperating with investigating agencies, officials said.
The woman was allegedly tasked with writing analytical papers on sensitive security, defence and geopolitical issues, including dynamics along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir, critical infrastructure projects in Arunachal Pradesh and drone deployment, they said.
According to officials, the case was registered at Gandhi Nagar police station in Jammu on Friday under relevant provisions of the Official Secrets Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including provisions relating to espionage, unauthorised handling of protected information, criminal conspiracy and offences against national sovereignty.
A deputy superintendent of police has been assigned to lead the investigation.
Acting on a tip-off, a joint team comprising personnel from a central intelligence agency and the police intercepted the woman at Jammu Tawi railway station on October 14, when she was reportedly preparing to board a train to Pathankot. She was stopped and taken to a nearby military station for questioning, officials said.
Her mobile phone was seized and sent for detailed forensic analysis.
The accused married a serving Army officer holding the rank of Major in October 2023, after completing a Master of Advanced Studies in European and International Governance in Geneva in 2022. She also earned a master's degree in international relations from a university in Bengaluru in 2021.
She had also undertaken an online internship with the Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS) in New Delhi and authored several research articles, officials said.
According to officials, questioning indicated that she had interacted with several foreign nationals during her UN internship, including a Chinese national with whom she allegedly remained in contact through WhatsApp.
Officials further claimed that, in 2024, she was in contact on social media with a Malaysian national who ran a consultancy and was allegedly working for Chinese intelligence agencies.
During questioning, the woman maintained that her research was based entirely on open sources and supplemented by AI tools, including OpenAI's ChatGPT and Anthropic's Claude.
Officials said a preliminary extraction of data from her seized mobile phone showed documents on sensitive subjects, including the India-Italy defence meeting at the Manekshaw Centre, the Indian Army chief's visit to the United States, the India-Russia defence pact, the Kalai-II Hydroelectric and Kamala projects in Arunachal Pradesh, the Cold Start doctrine, India-Seychelles relations, projects in Assam and India-China relations.
Investigators are examining whether the accused engaged in systematic research and information-sharing with suspected foreign contacts under the guise of freelance research, officials said. A comprehensive forensic examination of her digital devices and financial transactions is under way to establish the nature of the material and whether any information was shared with foreign contacts.