Verma faces case under Official Secrets Act

The CBI now plans to slap charges under the Act on Verma and some ministry officials. The documents,provided to the CBI in February by Vermas estranged partner Edmond C Allen,could not have been leaked without the collusion of ministry officials,CBI sources said. A dozen or so senior ministry officials,including some retired,are under the CBI scanner. The agency will examine some of these officials,who had earlier worked with Verma.

The sources said most of the leaked classified documents are dated between 2009 and 2011. This was after Verma was released on bail in 2008 in the Navy war room leak case.

The agency said once it has registered an OSA case,it will question Verma and his wife Anca Neascu,who too is in judicial custody,about where they got the documents.

The Indian Express had first highlighted in a two-part series in July how secret defence documents were with Verma and his aides. These include specifications of surveillance aircraft being bought by R&AW,minutes of a meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council,and a classified report on the Navys procurement of next-generation submarines.

Of particular concern were detailed notes that reveal the entire acquisition plans – down to the most basic of systems – of the Air Force. These had the names,quantity and cost of hundreds of systems being procured,ranging from armed UAVs to precision-guided munition,infrastructure on airfields close to China and a new spy satellite.

Verma and his wife were arrested on June 8 in connection with an attempt to stall the blacklisting of Swiss firm Rheinmetall Air Defence. The agency registered another case against the couple on for MoS (Home) Ajay Maken’s complaint that his letterhead had been forged.