[ISN] Army Major cleared of espionage charges

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Army-Major-cleared-of-espionage-charges/Article1-568259.aspx

Press Trust Of India
New Delhi
July 06, 2010

An Andaman-based Army Major, who came under the scanner after his 
computer was remotely accessed from Pakistan, has been cleared by the 
security agencies of any involvement in espionage.

The agencies are unlikely to proceed against the Major under the 
Official Secrets Act (OSA) but he may face a Departmental Action for 
allegedly procuring documents of sensitive nature.

After questioning the Major concerned at length, the central security 
agencies including the National Investigating Agency (NIA) were of the 
opinion that he was not involved in any espionage, official sources said 
on Tuesday.

The findings of investigations were also shared with the Army 
authorities which may initiate a disciplinary action against the officer 
for allegedly procuring documents pertaining to Army Commander's 
Conference.

These documents are classified as "Top Secret" and should normally not 
be in his possession. They related to issues much beyond his area of 
work.

The Major had said he was an inquisitive person but he was himself at a 
loss to know how some files had made its way to his computer, the 
sources said.

Sources said the Army authorities may initiate a departmental action 
against the officer, they said.

The investigators were in for a surprise when they found that his 
computer and e-mails had been remotely accessed from a server located in 
Pakistan.

Central Security agencies had also submitted a report in which they 
claimed that NIA and Military Intelligence officials had neglected the 
case property--the computer of the Army Major--and certain files and 
mails were deleted when the machine was in their custody, official 
sources said.

During the probe, it was also found that the computer of the army 
officer had been accessed many a time from a proxy server based in 
Pakistan and one more country, the location of which was being 
ascertained.

It appeared that the other server could also be from Pakistan but the 
proxy server addresses had been hopped through various Internet gateways 
of European countries.

The Army major came under the scanner when his e-mail address was picked 
up while scanning the e-mails of Pakistani-American David Headley, who 
has confessed to his involvement in the Mumbai terror attack.

The US agencies informed the Indian security agencies about the e-mail 
address and the Major was thereafter put under the scanner.


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