Honey-trapped case: 'Suitable action, if any wrongdoing'

New Delhi, Dec 21: Defence Ministry on Wednesday said it will take suitable action if any wrongdoing is found against a Lieutenant Colonel who was allegedly honey-trapped and blackmailed by the ISI in Bangladesh.

"The Ministry will certainly take cognizance of the reports that have come from the Ministry. We will definitely take suitable action if any wrongdoing is found," Minister of State for Defence M M Pallam Raju told reporters here.

The Minister was asked about the action that the Defence Ministry was planning to take against the Army officer.

Sources said the Ministry has also sought a detailed report on the issue from the Army.

A Court of Inquiry (CoI) has been ordered against the officer whose name has been withheld by the Army Headquarters here.

The Infantry officer was doing his Staff College course in the Bangladesh's Military Academy in Dhaka.

Army sources said the officer was honey-trapped by a woman whom he had met at a party in Dhaka two months ago and was then later approached by agents of Pakistan's intelligence agency.

Armed with alleged tapes of the officer and the woman together, the officer was asked by the ISI agents to spy for Pakistan, the sources had said.

The officer reported the incident to the Indian High Commission in Dhaka and he was immediately recalled to India, they said.

The CoI against the officer is being headed by a senior officer. As per Army Rules, establishing any such intimate relations with other than permissible people is prohibited and is a punishable offence.

PTI