'Honey trapping' case of Lt Colonel 'pure speculation': Army official

A senior Army official on Thursday dismissed reports of an army officer posted at Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh falling prey to a honeytrap as 'pure speculation'.

"Reports of detention of officer, 'Honey Trapping', money exchange at this stage are pure speculation and neither accurate nor substantiated. Details on the outcome of the enquiry will be intimated in due course as per progress," said the army official.

The official further said the detained army officer has been questioned and is continuing to perform his routine duty.

"The officer has only been questioned as part of the ongoing enquiry and nothing else and therefore he continues to perform his routine duties in the unit. Evidence related to the case including digital evidence has been seized and sent for further forensic analysis," the statement added.

He assured that the details on the outcome of the enquiry will be intimated in due course as per progress.

"A prelim enquiry was ordered on 12 February 2018 by the Army to ascertain the facts on suspected leakage of classified information from IT devices of a Lieutenant Colonel posted in Army Base Workshop at Jabalpur. It is yet to be established whether it has happened inadvertently or a deliberately as reported," it added.

On February 14, the Indian Army's intelligence wing detained a Lt. Colonel in Jabalpur in connection with a case of honey trap, said sources.

"Army officer of Lt Colonel rank has been detained in Jabalpur over a honey trap case. Officer is working in the Jabalpur workshop and has been detained by the counter intelligence wing of the Army," the sources said.

The sources further added that the detention was done on the basis of the officer's suspicious conduct.

"He came under the radar after a big amount of money was transferred into his account. The observation is that he leaked documents after receiving the money," the sources said.

--ANI