As tensions remain high along the India–Pakistan border, serious questions have emerged about security lapses on the Line of Control (LoC) in Ladakh after a woman from Nagpur allegedly crossed into Pakistan from the “ghost village” of Hundarman in Kargil to meet a man she had connected with online.

The incident has triggered fresh concerns over border surveillance. Senior security officials are said to have taken the matter seriously, particularly as the LoC is under heightened alert following recent skirmishes with Pakistan.

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The 43-year-old woman, Sunita Bholeshwar Jamgade, had arrived in Kargil as a tourist and was reported missing on 14 May from Hundarman village, located just 10 km from Kargil and directly along the LoC. She had left her 15-year-old son, Viniyal Satish Gatalewar, at the hotel where they were staying.

Despite a lookout notice and thorough searches by security forces, she could not be located.

Speaking to The Statesman, a senior Ladakh Police officer confirmed that Jamgade is suspected to have crossed the LoC.

The woman, who is reportedly divorced, was said to be desperate to meet her online acquaintance in Pakistan. Intelligence sources reveal that she had previously made two failed attempts to enter Pakistan, once by trying to follow a railway line near the Wagah border in Amritsar, where she was detained by the Border Security Force (BSF) and questioned.

Upon scanning her mobile phone, intelligence agencies reportedly found frequent communication with two Pakistani phone numbers.

Sources added that she had earlier visited Bhutan and Nepal in separate attempts to reach Pakistan.

Authorities are now questioning how a civilian from Maharashtra could navigate the rugged, cold desert terrain of Kargil and locate vulnerability in the heavily guarded LoC.

Hundarman, situated on the banks of the Suru River, is the northernmost village in the area. Captured by the Indian Army from Pakistan during the 1971 war, it had previously been under Pakistani control since 1947.

The village is split into Old and New Hundarman. Residents abandoned Old Hundarman—now known as the “ghost village”—due to intense cross-border firing in past decades.