457 spies nabbed since Operation Sindoor: Punjab Police flag surge in ISI activities
Suspects identified across 17 states/UTs; roped in locals via social media
As many as 457 Pakistan-linked spies or persons linked to them have been identified and arrested across 17 states and UTs since Operation Sindoor in May 2025, as Pakistan sharply stepped up espionage activities against India following its military defeat in the operation, according to a Punjab Police report on Pakistan’s ISI.
The report states that the ISI significantly increased the deployment of Pakistan intelligence operatives (PIOs) after Operation Sindoor, tasking them with collecting sensitive information on troop movements, strategic sites and border deployments. Recruits were allegedly targeted through social media, honey-trapping and cash inducements, with payments routed through hawala channels and encrypted apps. Some spies even attempted to install solar-powered CCTV cameras near military and police installations, but were detected in time.
Gaurav Yadav, DGP, Punjab, told The Tribune that the state police generated and disseminated multiple actionable intelligence inputs to other states and central agencies, leading to the identification of 457 individuals in 2025 and another 17 till March 2026 who were found to be in contact with PIOs. “Punjab remains one of the primary targets of the ISI. Our inputs facilitated a proactive approach, resulting in arrests as well as timely pre-emption of operatives before sensitive information could be compromised,” he said.
In a new espionage tactic, the Punjab Police’s Counter Intelligence wing detected in the last week of March 2026 and the first week of April 2026 that ISI-sponsored operatives were tasking local recruits with installing SIM-enabled solar cameras at strategic and military locations to remotely monitor military activity and transmit surveillance footage to handlers across the border in exchange for money.
Such individuals were intercepted before the cameras could be operationalised. An advisory was subsequently issued to other agencies and statewide sanitisation drives were conducted, resulting in the detection and disruption of multiple such attempts.
Punjab Police intelligence inputs led to action not only in Punjab but also across Haryana, Delhi, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Jammu and Kashmir, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Telangana, Manipur, Bihar and Nagaland.
Among those arrested after Operation Sindoor was Jyoti Rani, a YouTuber from Hisar, arrested on May 17, 2025, for allegedly maintaining regular contact with Ehsan-ur-Rahim, alias Danish, an official at the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi. Danish allegedly introduced her to other PIOs during her visit to Pakistan.
Nauman Ilahi of Kairana in Uttar Pradesh, who working as a security guard in a factory in Panipat, was arrested on May 16, 2025, for allegedly transmitting information to PIOs for two years. Multiple passports and suspicious documents were seized from his residence.
Devinder Singh of Kaithal, Haryana, was arrested the same day for espionage. He had allegedly visited Pakistan via Kartarpur Corridor in November 2024 and shared photographs of the Patiala military cantonment with a PIO.
In Rajasthan, a cleric identified as Maulvi Kasim, who allegedly received training in Lahore and travelled to India a week before the Pahalgam terror attack, was arrested on May 25, 2025. He allegedly received around two lakh Pakistani rupees in exchange for providing intelligence. His brother Asim was subsequently arrested by the Delhi Police from Deeg, Rajasthan, on June 1, 2025, for allegedly supplying Indian SIM cards to PIOs.
Abhishek Bhardwaj of Kangra, Himachal Pradesh, was arrested on May 29, 2025. He was allegedly in contact with Shahzad Bhatti, a Pakistan-based criminal suspected to be operating from Brazil and Dubai. Bhatti came into the spotlight after a video call surfaced showing him in conversation with Lawrence Bishnoi, currently lodged in a Gujarat jail.
In Punjab, nine persons were arrested in six separate cases. Suraj Masih and Phalaksher Masih of Ajnala in Amritsar allegedly leaked sensitive information and photographs of an Army cantonment and an airbase in Amritsar to a PIO introduced to them by Harpreet Singh, alias Pittu, alias Happy, currently lodged in the Amritsar Central Jail under the NDPS Act. Sukhpreet Singh and Karanbir Singh, both from Gurdaspur, were also arrested in May 2025.
Gagandeep Singh of Tarn Taran was arrested on June 3, 2025, for allegedly sharing critical information on Army movement, troop deployment and strategic locations during Operation Sindoor. He was found to have connections with designated Khalistani terrorist Gopal Singh Chawla.
Jasbir Singh, a YouTuber from Rupnagar, was arrested by the SSOC, Mohali, for allegedly being in contact with PIO Shakir, lias Jutt Randhawa, affiliated with a terror network involved in weapons and explosives supply into India. Jasbir had visited Pakistan in 2020, 2021 and 2024 and was also allegedly in contact with Jyoti and Ehsan-ur-Rahim alias Danish.
