CBI adds more sections to chargesheet in Navy War Room case

New Delhi, Aug 4 (UNI) The CBI today included two more sections to the chargesheet filed in the Navy War room case, being heard in a city court.

The investigating agency added charges of Criminal Breach of Trust and Conspiracy in the chargesheet against all the accused in the case. The case is being heard in the court of Chief Metropolitant Magistrate Seema Maini.

The next hearing of the case will be held on August 31. The the CBI will get more time to serve a 'Proclaimed Offender' notice on the London address of Ravi Shankaran, prime accused in the case.

The CBI had filed an application that the UK address of Ravi Shankaran, nephew of Naval Chief Arun Prakash, be exempted from the list of addresses where the 'service' of ''why he should not be declared a Proclaimed Offender'' was to be sent as it had been procured late by it.

Earlier the CBI had sent a 'service' to the Pune, Mumbai and Goa addresses of the accused.

Another accused in the case businessman Abhishek Verma, is in judicial custody till August 14.

Verma has been accused of offences under Section 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC and relevant sections of the Official Secrets Act, 1923 by the CBI which claimed Verma passed on sensitive information to Kulbhushan Parashar, the other accused in the case and Ravi Shankaran, at present absconding, and 'foreign office bearers' of Atlas Group of Companies, with whom he allegedly had close links.

The CBI had, on June 23, raided Verma's premises and seized several ''doubtful'' documents and personal computer.

Months after the disclosure of the sensational 'pilferage' of sensitive and classified documents from the Naval War Room, the CBI on April 6 arrested five people, including three former naval officers, in raids at 17 places across six cities -- four in Delhi and 13 in Mumbai, Chandigarh, Pune, Goa and Muzaffarpur.

Among those arrested in this connection so far include Lt Cdr (Retd) Kulbhushan Parashar, ex-naval commanders Virender Rana (Delhi) and Jha (Muzaffarpur) who were arrested on April 5 also with two civilians -- Bajaj and Jaiswal (both arrested from Pune on April 6).

Nine people were named in the FIR of the Defence Ministry which said three officers of the Indian Navy and another from the Indian Air Force along with retired officers and others conspired to trade off classified documents and information of the Defence Ministry endangering the country's security.

Besides the five arrested four others were Lt Cdr (Retd) Ravishankaran, Wing Cdr (Rtd) S K Kohli, Ex Wing Cdr (IAF) Sambhajee L Surve and Ex Captain (Navy) Kashyap Kumar.

UNI XC/NR VD GC1850