The investigating agencies are also examining call details, social media accounts, and email to ascertain whether he had acted on his own or at the behest of others.
Thiruvananthapuram: Kochi police on Monday arrested a man who impersonated a staff member from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and sought information from the Naval Base regarding the deployment of the indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant.
The man has been identified as Mujeeb Rahman, a native of Elathur in Kozhikode district.
The incident took place on the night of May 9 when the Kochi Naval Base received a phone call from a person who identified himself as "Raghavan" who claimed to be a staff of the PMO. He wanted to know about the current location of INS Vikrant.
Naval authorities, who became suspicious about the caller and the intention behind his seeking sensitive information, refused to give out any details. They immediately alerted the police.
The Harbour police station swung into action and registered an FIR against the caller and initiated a probe.
Kochi city police commissioner Putta Vimladitya said the person switched off the phone soon after the Media reported about the impersonation attempt.
However, the police continued with their probe and finally traced the impersonator on Monday. He was arrested by a police team and brought to Kochi for further questioning by senior officers.
During the investigation, the police came to know from Mujeeb's family that he was mentally unstable and had been under treatment for mental health ailments for the past four years.
The family said Mujeeb made the call after going through online media reports that INS Vikrant had hit the Karachi port. There were rumours regarding the attack on Karachi port as part of Operation Sindhoor.
Kochi commissioner said the person will be examined by medical experts to ascertain his mental health status.
The investigating agencies are also examining call details, social media accounts, and email to ascertain whether he had acted on his own or at the behest of others.
Apart from the impersonation charges, the probe officials have invoked provisions under the Official Secrets Act related to the attempt to seek classified information.
Indian Navy response
Meanwhile, in an official statement, the Indian Navy said: "A suspicious call inquiring about naval assets was received from a civil phone number at Naval Base, Kochi, on May 09, 2025. The Navy's internal security mechanism promptly flagged the incident and brought it to the attention of concerned intelligence agencies. A FIR was registered with the Harbour Police Station, Kochi. The suspected person has been tracked to be a civilian and the Southern Naval Command is extending full cooperation to the investigating authorities on this incident."
"The Indian Navy remains ever vigilant against subversive and espionage activities carried out by adversarial elements to obtain sensitive information. Maintaining a high level of preparedness, the Indian Navy is committed to the highest standards of operational security in the national interest."
