Navy espionage case: Commander-rank officer among 5 arrested by CBI

The Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday claimed to have busted a major espionage operation and arrested a serving Indian Navy officer, two retired personnel and two private persons in connection with the case. Those arrested have been accused of allegedly passing on information related to the maintenance and repair of a Kilo Class Indian Navy submarine. They have been sent to judicial custody.

As per reports, the serving official of Commander-rank in the Indian Navy shared the info with the retired officers who were on the radar of the intelligence agencies for quite some time. Currently, the officer is posted under the 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 facts about the espionage and how such leaks could be plugged in the future.

The Indian Navy in a statement said an investigation is underway into the allegation of information on administrative and commercial nature being with some unauthorised personnel. The Navy said it is assisting the CBI in the investigation. Meanwhile, an internal inquiry has also been initiated by the Navy. The CBI, on its part, conducted raids at 19 locations, including Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Noida.

Two days ago, the Punjab Police had arrested an Indian Army soldier for allegedly leaking sensitive and classified information to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence. The soldier was posted at Ferozpur Cantonment in Punjab. In July too, two Army jawans were arrested in the same connection. They were posted in Jammu & Kashmir's Anantnag and Kargil. In February 2018, an Indian Army officer of Group Captain-rank was arrested for passing on classified information to the ISI.

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• Indian Navy
• defence
• espionage
• CBI
• Investigation