[ISN] CBI raids premises of Naval chief's kin

[InfoSec News]

Forwarded from: William Knowles <wk at c4i.org>

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1480861.cms

TIMES NEWS NETWORK
APRIL 07, 2006

NEW DELHI: A month after the defence ministry handed over the Navy war
room leak case, the Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday
arrested three former naval officers and conducted raids at 17 places,
including the premises of Ravi Shankaran, kin of Navy chief Admiral
Arun Prakash, in connection with the case. The arrested included one
woman, who was used a honey trap, for criminal conspiracy.

The CBI, which has registered an FIR against nine people, arrested Lt
Commander (Retd) Kulbhushan Parashar, who has been reportedly
identified as the end user of the classified documents, at Indira
Gandhi International Airport as he returned from London by an Air
India flight on Wednesday night.

Sources said that the CBI had filed the FIR over 15 days ago but had
been waiting for Parashar to return before starting arrests and
conducting raids. Raids were conducted in 17 locations in New Delhi,
Mumbai, Pune, Muzzafarpur, Chandigarh and Goa.

Another key accused in the case Lt Commander (Retd) Ravishankaran, the
nephew of Navy chief Admiral Arun Prakash, is still in London and the
CBI is waiting for his return from London before proceeding against
him, He is also named in the CBI FIR.

The factory premises of Shanks Oceaneering belonging to Ravishankaran
in Mumbai and Goa were also raided. The CBI also raided the house of
Manish Vohra, the chartered accountant for Parashar and Ravi
Shankaran.

The others who were arrested on Wednesday include two ex-commanders of
the Indian Navy Virender Rana, who was arrested from Dwarka in Delhi,
and Kashyap Kumar, who was arrested from Muzaffarpur. The CBI also
arrested Rajrani Jaiswal and Mukesh Bajaj from Pune on Thursday
afternoon.

The other four named in the FIR apart from Ravishankaran are
ex-captain of the Indian Navy Kashyap Kumar, wing commander (Retd) S K
Kohli and ex-wing commander of Indian Air Force Sambhajee L Surve,
from whom classified naval information was found and the whole case
unravelled.

The CBI is investigating the role of Rajrani Jaiswal and till now have
concluded that she was used as a honey trap to entice naval officers
like air force officer Wing Commander S L Surve, and passed
information on to Parashar. She has also been charged under 120B
(criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.

The FIR has been registered on the basis of information received from
the ministry of defence that three officers of the Indian Navy and one
officer of the Indian Air Force in collusion with private persons and
retired officers and others conspired to unauthorisedly trade off
classified documents and information relating defence ministry.

The entire leak was discovered due to an illicit relationship between
Jaiswal and Indian Air Force ex-wing commander Sambhajee L Surve, who
is also named in the FIR. Surve’s wife had complained to the Air
Force.

During that investigation, the Air Force counter surveillance team
stumbled on to a pen drive in Surve’s possession that led them to the
entire war room deal. The Navy and the Air Force both conducted
inquiries and three naval officers were thrown out of the Navy. The
CBI was given the findings of both the inquiries.

The CBI has now asked the other four to join the investigation. Surve
has been in touch with the CBI but sources said that his whereabouts
is unknown. The war room leak case has led to speculation that the
Scorpene deal is also linked somehow to the case. CBI spokesperson
Mohanty said that all aspects of the case are being investigated.

Parashar and Rana were produced before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate
Seema Maini at her residence, who remanded them to 14 days of CBI
custody. Jha was being brought here after his transit remand was taken
from Muzzafarpur.



*==============================================================*
"Communications without intelligence is noise;  Intelligence
without communications is irrelevant." Gen Alfred. M. Gray, USMC
================================================================
C4I.org - Computer Security, & Intelligence - http://www.c4i.org
*==============================================================*