Mohammad Sahil, 25, and his wife Sameera, 21, were arrested by the Special Cell after an investigation into an alleged espionage module backed by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence. Police say the couple had been working with Pakistan-based operatives since 2024 and were promised financial rewards for providing logistical support and assisting intelligence-gathering activities.
Investigators allege that Sahil and Sameera procured eight SIM cards and sent them to Pakistan through Dubai during 2024 and 2025. They were allegedly paid about Rs 30,000 for the cards. The numbers were then used to activate WhatsApp accounts operated from Pakistan.
Those accounts were allegedly deployed to contact people in India and join WhatsApp groups where intelligence operatives attempted to collect sensitive information. Police are examining the extent to which the accounts gained access to defence-related material and whether additional people were recruited or approached by the network.
The investigation has also focused on allegations that Sahil was tasked with helping identify people who could conduct reconnaissance around military cantonments at different locations. He was allegedly asked to obtain information about Army personnel facing court-martial proceedings or cases before military tribunals.
Police said the network appeared to combine conventional intelligence requirements with digital methods that allowed handlers based outside the country to communicate with potential recruits, over-ground workers and other contacts through social media and encrypted messaging applications.
The Special Cell began investigating after receiving information about a Pakistan-based intelligence network seeking logistical support in Delhi and the National Capital Region. Investigators traced WhatsApp numbers being operated from Pakistan to SIM cards allegedly obtained locally, eventually identifying Sahil as one of the people involved.
Sahil was arrested in south Delhi. A forensic examination of his mobile phone allegedly uncovered conversations with Pakistan-based agents. Information obtained during the investigation then led officers to Sameera, whose phone was also examined.
Police say chats and other communications recovered from the two devices contained material linking the couple with handlers operating from Pakistan. Two mobile phones have been seized and are undergoing further forensic analysis as investigators attempt to map other contacts associated with the alleged network.
The couple’s alleged involvement is said to have begun through Instagram. Investigators say Sahil came into contact with a Pakistani agent in 2024 through Sameera, whom he had met in 2022 and later married.
That contact allegedly introduced the couple to a Pakistani intelligence operative who gradually cultivated them and offered money in exchange for assistance. Their assignments subsequently expanded beyond obtaining SIM cards to providing logistical support in Delhi and identifying people who could undertake espionage or field-related activities, police allege.
Investigators are examining whether any of the SIM cards supplied by the couple were used by handlers to establish longer-term contact with people employed in strategically sensitive organisations. The use of locally registered numbers can allow an overseas operator to appear to be communicating through a domestic identity, potentially making initial approaches less conspicuous.
The case highlights the increasing role of mainstream social-media platforms in alleged intelligence recruitment. Security investigations over the past several years have repeatedly examined attempts by overseas handlers to identify potential recruits through online friendships, financial inducements or sustained personal contact before shifting conversations to encrypted applications.
Sahil holds a BA degree from Indira Gandhi National Open University and had worked with a lawyer while planning to study law, police said. He later left the job and was unemployed before his arrest. His family has lived in Delhi for decades, with his father working as a car mechanic.
Sameera also completed a BA through correspondence and had been working at a call centre in Noida. Police are examining her online interactions as part of efforts to determine when contact with the Pakistan-based agent began and how the alleged relationship developed.
