New Delhi, April 7
The CBI today questioned two ex-Navy officers Kulbhushan Parashar and Vinod Rana in connection with the sensational Navy war-room leak case here. “The two accused were put to sustained questioning by the investigators and their questioning will continue further,” a source in the CBI said.
Parashar, a retired Navy officer, was arrested on April 5 upon his arrival from London at Indira Gandhi International Airport, while Rana was arrested yesterday from Dwarka in Delhi.
Meanwhile, V.K. Jha, another former Navy officer, arrested from Bihar yesterday along with two private persons Mukesh Bajaj and Raj Jaiswal, who were arrested from Pune, will be produced by the CBI tomorrow before a designated court here and seek their custody, the sources said.
The CBI had registered the case in connection with the leakage of classified documents/information under the Official Secrets Act after the Defence Ministry had handed over investigation to it.
The Defence Ministry had asked the CBI on February 18 to probe the leaks from the Naval Headquarters, which had led to the sacking of three senior Navy officials.
The government had referred the case after reports suggested that the leaks pertained to a high-profile defence deal. The Navy had constituted a board of inquiry after intelligence officers had recovered a pen drive from senior Air Force officer, Wing Commander S.L. Surve, in December which allegedly contained classified Naval information.
After two months of inquiry, the board found three senior officers — Capt Kashyap Kumar (former Director of Naval Operations), Commander V Rana and V.K. Jha guilty and they were dismissed from service. The CBI has now asked the other accused persons and witnesses having knowledge of the crime to join the investigation.
