City court commits War Room Leak Case to sessions court

New Delhi, Aug 14 (UNI) A city court today committed the Navy War Room Leak Case to a sessions court.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sanjeev Jain today directed five accused--S L Surve, Kulbhushan Parasar, Abhishek Verma, Virender Rana and VK Jha to appear before the District Judge on August 25.

The navy had conducted a probe in the year 2005, when it was alleged that nine people were involved in leaking classified information relating to its planned purchase of a wide array of sophisticated equipment from the war room or Directorate of Naval Operations.

Three officers -- Captain Kashyap Kumar along with Commanders Rana and Jha-- were dismissed from naval service in October 2005, when the probe revealed they had sold classified information for commercial benefits.

Kumar, described as its 'mastermind', headed the Directorate of Naval Operations, at the time of its leak. The government handed over the case to the CBI on February 18, 2006, following allegations that middlemen involved in the war room leak case were also linked with the Scorpene deal.

The CBI filed a case on April 6, 2006, under the Official Secrets Act and the Indian Penal Code. Developments led to the arrests of five people in April, including Commanders Rana, Jha (who were earlier dismissed), Kulbhushan Parashar, Mukesh Bajaj and Rajrani Jaiswal.

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