Phones seized in spy probe, charges of ‘immoral’ conduct, 4 Army officers move SC over privacy

The four officers have claimed that their mobile phones and other personal digital assets were seized by Army authorities in March on the directions of Directorate General of Military Intelligence (DGMI).

Four Army officers of the rank of Colonel and Lt Colonel have filed a petition in the Supreme Court alleging that their right to privacy under the Constitution has been violated by military authorities who seized their mobile phones for an espionage investigation and then suspended three of them on grounds of morality.

According to the officers’ petition, two of the suspended officers are posted in the Military Intelligence (MI) Directorate in Delhi while the third is an Instructor at Defence Services Staff College in Wellington. The fourth officer is posted in Mumbai.

The four officers have claimed that their mobile phones and other personal digital assets were seized by Army authorities in March on the directions of Directorate General of Military Intelligence (DGMI).

According to the petition, it was suspected that a Whatsapp group, called “Patiala Peg”, of which these officers were members, had been infiltrated by a Pakistan Intelligence Operative (PIO) triggering a probe to find if classified information had been shared.

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