NE NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, OCT 27
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday arrested a serving officer of the Indian Navy along with two retired officers, in connection with the leakage of confidential information related to the modernization of Kilo-class submarines.
The Indian Navy had in September ordered a high-level probe under a Vice Admiral and a Rear Admiral to investigate the leakage of information and to look for ways to prevent any such incident in the future.
The searches were carried out at 19 locations including Mumbai, Delhi, Noida, and Hyderabad. Several electronic gadgets and other incriminating materials have been seized which are being scrutinized.
The CBI has been reportedly questioning a number of other serving officers who were in touch with the arrested officers. The Indian Navy has also been providing assistance in the ongoing investigations by the Central agency and sending its men for necessary interrogation.
It is alleged that the commander had discussed crucial details about the ongoing modernization project of Kilo-class submarines with the two retired officers for alleged illegal gratification.
The Anti Corruption Unit of the agency, which handles sensitive and high profile corruption cases, was tasked to unearth the leakage of information following which the operation was started.
As soon as the matter was brought to the notice of the top Naval brass last month, they formed a five-member team headed by a Vice Admiral to start a parallel investigation in the matter and plug any other possible information leaks in the force.
The probe agencies have been monitoring the activities of a large number of ex-servicemen officers from all three services which lead to the recent arrests in the case. More arrests are also possible as some more inputs have been received by them, it added.
Kilo-class submarines are diesel-electric attack submarines designed and built in the Soviet Union for the Soviet Navy. These are among the world’s most common conventional submarines and are currently in service in the navies of several countries.
In India, these attack submarines are categorized under the Sindhughosh class. To date, the government has acquired 10 such underwater vessels, all of which have undergone extensive modernization, some details of which remain classified.
Presently, the Navy has 15 conventional submarines and two nuclear submarines.
