Haryana Student Arrested For Spying, Allegedly Shared Key Info With Pakistan

A student from a college in Haryana was detained on suspicion of espionage and transmitting sensitive data to Pakistan, marking the second arrest from the state this week while calm exists along the India-Pakistan border.

Devendra Singh Dhillon, a 25-year-old political science student at Khalsa College in Patiala, was apprehended in Kaithal on May 12 for posting images of firearms and pistols on his Facebook profile. During interrogation, it was revealed that he traveled to Pakistan in November of the previous year via the Kartarpur corridor and was disclosing sensitive information to officials of Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence agency.

The intelligence agents from the neighboring country reportedly invested a significant amount of money to cater to Dhillon. Kaithal Police Superintendent Aastha Modi reported that the first-year Master’s student also provided photos of the Patiala military cantonment to officers from Pakistan.

His phone has been taken and submitted for forensic examination. Additionally, his bank account is under scrutiny to determine the financial connections between him and Pakistani officials.

Dhillon’s apprehension occurs just days after 24-year-old Nauman Ilahi was detained in Panipat on comparable allegations. The native of Uttar Pradesh, working as a security guard in Haryana, received money from agents in the accounts of his brother-in-law and the company driver for providing information to Pakistan. Furthermore, Punjab Police arrested two individuals last week, one of whom is a woman, for their suspected participation in espionage activities related to a Pakistani official stationed at the High Commission in Delhi.

The crackdown on cross-border espionage comes as calm prevails along the border since May 10, when India and Pakistan reached a ceasefire agreement after India’s May 7 Operation Sindoor led to military strikes on nine terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Cross-border military action ensued, escalating tensions that were building up since the April 22 Pahalgam attack in which 26 civilians were killed.