Navy officer among five arrested by CBI for leaking confidential info about submarine project

NEW DELHI: In a case of leak of sensitive information the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested serving and retired navy officers along with others. Indian Navy has also launched its internal inquiry.

"Investigation related to alleged information leak of administrative and commercial nature being with some unauthorized personnel has come to light and is being investigated by appropriate government agency," said the Indian Navy in a statement related to the arrest made by the CBI.

As per the sources, "Officers were passing sensitive information related to Kilo Class Submarine to private persons." The Navy said that the investigation by the agency with get its complete support and is in progress. "An internal inquiry by the Navy is also being progressed," the statement said.

As per the sources the case came into light a month back and the CBI conducted raids at 19 locations including those at Delhi, Noida, Hyderabad, and Delhi amongst the others. "Total 5 arrests have been made till now (one serving officer, two retired officers & two private persons) and all are in judicial custody as of now," sources said.

Currently, the officer was posted under Indian Navy's Western Naval Command. To further probe the matter, the Indian Navy has set up a committee under a Vice Admiral to ascertain the fact about the espionage and how it could be stopped further.

At present Indian Navy operates 12 conventional submarines and a nuclear powered submarine, which are strategically important underwater combat systems.

Two days ago, an army jawan was arrested from Ferozpur Cantt in Punjab for allegedly leaking information. In a similar case in July, two other army jawans were arrested from Anantnag in Jammu and Kashmir. In February 2018, a group captain of the Indian Air Force was also arrested for leaking classified information.