NEW DELHI: Narayan Lal was a kulfi seller, a goat farmer and a local folk singer in Rajasthan's Bhilwara. However, surfing pornographic websites connected Narayan Lal to agents of a Pakistani intelligence agency.
Now arrested, Lal's journey to being a part of an espionage web spun by ISI has been rather filmy.
Earlier this year, Lal had joined a porn WhatsApp group by accepting the joining link shared on a public group on Facebook and porn sites. The WhatsApp group had more than 250 members using mobile numbers belonging to multiple countries, including Pakistan.
During his questioning by an intelligence agency, Lal claimed to have left the group within a week of joining it. However, he was contacted on WhatsApp by a member who used a "+92" number asking him for the reason of leaving the group.
The WhatsApp user with Pakistani number introduced himself as 'Anil'. Lal, however, suspected that he was from Pakistan but still continued his communication with 'Anil'.
Gradually, the two started exchanging messages on WhatsApp and speaking on WhatsApp audio calls. After a few days, 'Anil' introduced Lal to another Pakistani Intelligence Operative (PIO), 'Sahil' who also was using an Indian WhatsApp number and claimed to be in Delhi.
The PIOs encouraged Lal to plan a trip to Pakistan and promised to sponsor the trip and facilitate in his documentation process. They also promised to host him well in Pakistan in chats.
To initiate his passport and visa, Lal had even shared photos of his Adhaar Card, Diving Licence, PAN card and passport photos with the PIOs, said an intelligence officer.
The two PIOs, 'Anil' and 'Sahil', insisted that Lal provides them with some Indian SIM Cards in exchange of money before coming to Pakistan.
Lal agreed to do so and procured two SIM Cards on his name. He used one of them to receive a WhatsApp OTP on behalf of 'Anil', hence facilitating the latter in acquire a new WhatsApp account, this time on an Indian number.
Then Lal sent the SIM Cards to the PIOs on an address shared by them. He then sent three more Indian SIM Cards (hence five in total) to the PIOs and got Rs 5000 in return.
"The PIOs asked him on multiple occasions to enter military cantonments, befriend Army personnel, introduce them to the PIOs and also send locations, photos and videos of military places," said an official citing chats.
Lal allegedly sent photos of a random military vehicle in Udaipur and a random army personnel in uniform in Ahmedabad while traveling.
He also sent few photos of Ahmedabad railway station. After the murder of Kanhaiya Lal in Udaipur by radicalized elements, the PIOs had asked Narayan Lal to look for the video and Lal obliged the PIOs with one such video that he had received in one of his WhatsApp groups.
"Apart from these, the PIOs had also tasked Narayan Lal to look for a shopping space adjacent to Udaipur cantonment, so that they could set up a Photocopier stall there. For this, they had sent around Rs 3000 to him and promised to provide Rs 4-5 lakh to set up the shop and bear expenses towards salary of a photocopy-machine operator," said a senior police officer.
In return, they wanted copies of all military documents that would come to the shop for photocopy. Lal allegedly accepted the offer and visited the area adjacent to Udaipur cantonment and carried out a survey. He even shortlisted a shop, shared contact details of the shop-owner with the PIOs and made the owner even talk to one of the PIOs.
He also shared the Google Map location of the identified shop with the PIOs, said an official.
The Indian agencies, which had started monitoring Lal, detected his online communication with the agencies of the Pak agency and the input was subsequently shared with the Rajasthan Police
Based on inputs, the Rajasthan Police on Saturday moved to arrest Lal and booked him under the Officials Secrets Act. He has been charged with allegedly assisting a Pakistani Intelligence agency in carrying out espionage related tasks. The police are looking for the PIOs, one of them believed to be in Delhi.
Explore the yearly horoscope 2025 for Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces zodiac signs. Spread love this holiday season with these New Year wishes, messages and quotes.