A Delhi court on Wednesday sentenced former Navy man, Captain Salam Singh Rathore (retd.) to seven years of imprisonment in the 2005 Navy War room leak case.
The court had last Saturday convicted him.
Commander acquitted
However, the court acquitted Commander Jarnail Singh Kalra (retd.) in the case. “This court orders that convict Salam Singh Rathore is sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for seven years for the offence under Section 3(1) (c) of the Official Secrets Act, 1923,” special judge for CBI cases S.K. Aggarwal said.
The court also rejected plea for a lenient punishment. Seeking a softer punishment, the convict in person pleaded with the court for the term of sentence already undergone during the pendency of the case.
Rejecting his plea, the Judge said: ``The convict does not deserve lenient punishment as he has played with the security of his own nation. Being a defence personnel, his primary job was to even keep his life at stake for the unity, integrity and security of India, bur he has acted otherwise,
``The documents found found in possession of the convicts pertains to the Defence Department of India are calculated to be having potential of directly or indirectly useful an enemy in one way or the other,’’ the Judge further said.
The court had framed charges in the matter in 2014.
Rathore had joined Navy in July, 1994 and was posted as Deputy Director (Maritime) in acquisition wing of Defence Procurement Board till July 2005. He took voluntary retirement in January 2006 after his transfer from the acquisition wing and started working with a company in Uttar Pradesh.
During probe, CBI recovered 17 official documents from his possession relating to various issues such as annual acquisition plan and a note regarding cost of Brahmos missile. Nine of these documents were secret, four restricted and one confidential, CBI said in the charge-sheet.