Precautions being taken to prevent honeytrap cases: Manohar Parrikar

Jaipur: Against the backdrop of an IAF official falling prey to a honey trap, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Saturday said all precautions are being taken to prevent such incidents which have so far been confined to the lower level.

"I do not think that such things (espionage) are at high level. Few things came to light but they were at lower level and we have taken all precautions (to prevent them)," he told reporters here.

"Things like honey trap are generally avoided when we are alert. We should be alert all the time.We take care of it at the time of recruitment and training. There are also clear guidelines and code of conduct (for personnel) to deal with social networking sites," he said.

Recently, a 30-year old IAF official Ranjith KK was dismissed from service and arrested for allegedly passing on official secrets to a suspected intelligence operative.

According to Delhi Police crime branch, the official had been compromised after falling prey to a honey trap set up by the suspected operative, Damini McNought, who posed as a journalist on Facebook.

Parrikar was speaking at the CISF ground near Amber to inaugurate an Army recruitment rally where he also interacted with the candidates before flagging off the rally.

Large number of candidates attended the open rally for which registrations were done online.

"We started the procedure of online application for the recruitment rally. It was feared that the number of candidates might drop but the number of candidates has gone up instead," he said.

"Indian youth is patriotic and has nationalistic mindset and therefore willing to join the Army," he said.

Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and senior officers of the Army were present on the occasion.