HAL Staff Arrested For Supplying Aircraft Details To ISI

An employee of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has been arrested on Friday by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) for supplying secret information of fighter aircraft to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency.

"The Nashik unit of the state Anti-Terrorism Squad received reliable intelligence about the man, who was in constant touch with ISI," said DCP Vinay Rathod.

"The man, identified as Deepak Shirsath, was supplying confidential information about Indian fighter aircraft and their manufacturing unit to the Pakistani spy agency through WhatsApp and social media," he added.

According to the official, information related to HAL aircraft manufacturing unit at Ozar near Nashik, the airbase and prohibited areas inside the manufacturing unit were also shared by him.

An offence under the Official Secrets Act has been registered against the 41-year-old man who was working as assistant supervisor.

Three mobile handsets along with five SIM cards and two memory cards have been seized from him, he said.

Established in 1964 for licence manufacture of MiG-21FL aircraft and K-13 missiles, the division has also manufactured other MiG variants like MiG-21M, MiG-21 BIS, MiG-27 M and the state-of-the-art