New Delhi, Delhi, India

An Indian Air Force (IAF) officer has been taken into custody for possibly leaking of classified information, sources said on Wednesday. 

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A team of the IAF's central security and investigation took the officer into custody, and currently, he is being interrogated, said the sources.

The investigators are probing whether the officer was a victim of a honey trap as it is suspected he was sending pictures of classified documents to a woman through Facebook and WhatsApp.

It is also being probed whether he was part of a larger espionage ring being run from Pakistan, the sources said.

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Sources were cited by a news portal as saying that the officer had established contact with his handlers through Facebook. Later the officer was in touch with his handlers through multiple social media platforms. 

“We are trying to establish whether others too were involved and how big the ring was”, top sources said. 

“We have strong reason to believe that the officer was regularly meeting his handlers in the Capital”, these sources added.

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The IAF officially did not comment on the matter. 

The identity of the officer has been kept secret as the investigation into the case was going on, the sources said. 

The investigators are also examining whether the officer has passed on any sensitive information to anyone.