ISI created fake social media account of model to lure HAL employee: ATS

The 41-year-old assistant supervisor at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) last month on charges of espionage, was lured by a woman, posing as a UK-based model with an interest in aeronautics, into sharing pictures and vital information on Sukhoi jets.

The ATS said Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) created a fake social media account of a woman, who then lured him into sharing pictures of his notes and HAL’s manufacturing unit at Ozar. The ATS on October 9 had arrested Deepak Shirsat. He has been working with the HAL for the last 16 years, ATS sources said.