Oppn mole 'searched' for leaking Quattrocchi news

New Delhi, Feb 26: With the Opposition breathing down its neck, the government is searching for the 'BJP sympathiser' in the establishment who 'leaked' the detention of Ottavio Quattrocchi in Argentina, forcing the CBI to issue an 'official statement'.

Sources in the CBI said the government had 'zeroed in' on the Ministry of External Affairs for the suspected leak, since until about a week after the central agency was informed by the Interpol, the 'news' was not even shared by it with its own officials probing the Bofors case.

''The news about the detention was kept within a select group of the top brass in the agency, besides high-ups of the UPA. The 'slip' took place only after the MEA was roped in for further action'', the sources said.

The alleged 'sympathiser' of the Opposition, who has brought the government and the CBI under sharp criticism for once again trying to fudge chances of 'getting' the Italian businessman to face Indian courts for 'conspiracy and cheating' in the Rs 64-crore Bofors case, was ''for all practical purposes within the MEA'', the sources added.

Intelligence sources said they have been 'assigned with the job' to get the mole, while disclosing that the 'official version' about the detention of the Bofors accused was released after learning that the 'news' had reached a prominent Hindi daily.

Sources in the government, meanwhile, said several heads were likely to roll ''in near future'', including some in the CBI, for the 'mishandling' of the issue.

That the Opposition was determined to cash in on the issue became clear whem a top leader informed mediapersons on Saturday that Quattrocchi's son Massimo was in the capital about a few days back to 'lobby' for his father.

UNI