CBI is yet to arrest the man who could turn out to be the most important link of the spy ring which successfully penetrated the Navy's operational hub.
NEW DELHI: As the Indian defence establishment struggles to come to terms with the sensational Navy War Room leak, CBI is yet to arrest the man who could turn out to be the most important link of the spy ring which successfully penetrated the Indian Navy's operational hub -the Directorate of Naval Operations (DNO).
Captain Kashyap Kumar, formerly Director (Ops) at the DNO in South Block here, allegedly played a key role in handling confidential data on top secret upgradation plans for naval centres across the country, taking nodal decisions on the futuristic Nerve Centric Operations (NCO) and even the posting of young software programmers by the navy, CBI sources said.
Kumar's name figures in the chargesheet filed by the CBI on July 3 before the Delhi Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, but under the category of accused not yet arrested.
Besides his name, address and the fact that he had not been arrested, the agency has scant information about him.
The accused first came under the cloud of suspicion after he orally reported the loss of an official pen drive on May 2005. Naval Intelligence then moved in and seized the hard disk of his office computer to verify his role in the leak.
However, the agency has not revealed in the chargesheet if it had been able to recover any sensitive information from the disk seized from him.
Confidential information on national security which had passed through Kumar's hands were forensically recovered from the pen drives seized by Defence Intelligence from co-accused ex-IAF officer S L Surve and sacked naval commander Vijender Rana, CBI sources said.
Secret files signed by Kumar in the pen drives include a recommendation on the Core Management Group for NCO dated March 5, 2005, upgradation of key operational facilities at six MOCs, a confidential note dated January 2005 to Commanding Officers at Navy bases in Mumbai, Kochi and Vishakapatnam regarding database requirement for NCO project and expert observations on software plans for the Navy, the sources said.
All these documents pertaining to national security are marked as compromised information in the chargesheet.
The most hard-hitting piece of data allegedly leaked by Kumar is regarding the NCO, which is considered to be a revolution in military affairs and refers to bringing our Chain of Command in the Forces under a single network.
"With this compromised information, enemy country/ terrorists can know exactly as to what is the future Naval Network Centric Operations for the next 20 years and they can accordingly plan their strategies," the CBI chargesheet said.
"Besides, this information for big multinationals engaged in defence supplies/ manufacturers, implies planning their business and networking strategies for the next 20 years, because this gives them a clear insight as to what the requirements of the Indian Navy would be in this area, hence affording them a market edge," it added.
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