Army probing Major's access to classified files

The Army is investigating the manner in which Major Shantanu Dey, who is being probed in a suspected espionage case, got access to over 200 classified documents that were found in his computer hard disc.

"The inquiry in the case is still on and we are trying to find out how Major Dey get access to classified files and who gave it to him," Army sources said in New Delhi on Monday.

While checking the hard disc of Major Dey's computer after the Federal Bureau of Investigation gave a tip-off about mails being sent from it to a computer in Pakistan, the Central Forensic Science Laboratory in Hyderabad found out that the major was in possession of over 200 files and presentations of a classified nature.

In joint investigations by the Military Intelligence and the National Investigation Agency into the case, it was found that the Army official's computer was not hacked and only his e-mail address and password were hacked by Pakistani operatives, they added.

The Army maintained that there was no espionage angle to it but the officer was guilty of violating the Standard Operating Procedures of the military on cyber security.

The matter came to light when the FBI, while probing Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative David Headley's case, found a picture sent by Major Dey to his former Commander, presently taking part in a course in the United States, in a Pakistani Army officer's computer and tipped off India about it.

After the FBI informed Indian authorities about the photograph sent through a particular IP address, the NIA and the MI carried out a joint probe that led them to Dey's computer in Andaman, from where the mail was sent.

The Army is also trying to find out if the officer had e-mailed any classified documents from his computer to any other person.

Major Dey is at present serving in his unit deployed in the Andaman Islands. Sources said the Major told the investigators that he collected the 200-odd documents found in his hard disc for preparing for the Defence Services Staff College exams, which are scheduled to be held in September this year.