Abhishek Verma challenges his arrest in High Court

New Delhi, July 24 (UNI) The Delhi High Court today issued a notice to the CBI on the petition of arrested businessman Abhishek Verma challenging his arrest in the Navy war room leak case.

Justice A K Sikri issued the notice to the CBI directing it to file a reply to the petition by July 26, the next date of hearing.

Verma has sought a direction of the High Court to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) to quash the order of July 22 granting his CBI remand for 10 days.

''Grave miscarriage of justice has been caused by the order of the CMM on July 22 under sections 3 and 5 of the Oficial Secrets Act and 120-B of the IPC by way of granting CBI custody of the petitioner,'' said the petition filed by Counsel V S Rawat.

The CBI had no authority to conduct further investigation or to arrest the petitioner after cognizance had been taken by the CMM Court on the complaint filed by the CBI, said the petition.

On July 21, the CBI arrested Verma after calling him at the agency's headquarters for questioning.

He is also alleged to be a close associate of Ravi Shankaran, another accused and kin of the Navy chief, Admiral Arun Prakash.

Shankaran has been declared a proclaimed offender by a court in New Delhi.

The CBI, which had registered a case in March, has claimed that the probe has so far revealed that apart from the leak of information from the Navy war room and the Air Defence Directorate, there was prima facie a larger ring of "compromised officials" in various wings of the armed forces and the Defence Ministry, who were giving sensitive information in exchange of gratification.

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