'To this day, I feel vindicated': What Pranab Mukherjee said on not accepting ex-chief's resignation over war room leaks

Former President of India Pranab Mukherjee has passed away, a tweet by the former president's son Abhijit Mukherjee informed on Monday. He had undergone surgery for brain clot on August 10. The 84-year-old, who had also tested positive for COVID-19 prior to the surgery, had tweeted that he had tested positive for coronavirus and urged people, who had come in contact with him in the last week, to isolate themselves and get tested for the virus.

Pranab Mukherjee's era as a politician

A Congress stalwart before he was elected as India's 13th President, Mukherjee served from July 2012 to 2017 in the top post. A powerful orator and scholar, he made several revelations in 'The Coalition Years: 1996-2012'.

The Naval War Room Leak

The Naval War Room Leak, which came to light in May 2005, was one of the biggest defence scandals that rocked the country. The scandal involved a leak of over 7,000 pages of sensitive information including the Navy’s plans for the next 20 years to arms dealers and middlemen. The leak of sensitive information came to light when an officer was found in possession of an unauthorised pen-drive containing secrets of defence forces.

Among the key players behind the leak, the mastermind was Ravi Shankaran – former naval official. Shankaran is the nephew of the then naval chief Arun Prakash.

Here's the excerpt from Pranab Mukherjee's autobiographical account of the coalition era:

On handling naval war room leaks

"Unfortunately, one of the prime accused in the naval war room leak case was Ravi Shankaran, a former naval officer and a relative of the wife of the then Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Arun Prakash, a decorated naval aviator and a man known for his high integrity and professionalism."

"Shankaran owned a company called Shank Ocean Engineering and was involved in the business of naval supplies. He had allegedly used his relations with officers in the naval directorate to acquire information. Confronted with this revelation, Admiral Prakash, in the true tradition of a man in uniform, called on me and submitted his resignation in August 2006."

"Though I appreciated his expression of propriety, I was unwilling to accept his resignation without there being any prima facie evidence against him."

"I was influenced in my decision by the dictum that every individual is responsible for his or her own action, and the relatives of an accused do not have to bear the burden of any criminal or improper act unless there is some evidence to the contrary."

"And to this day, I feel vindicated about the decision I took since nothing has even remotely surfaced so far, linking Admiral Prakash to any wrongdoings of his relative."