New Delhi: The CBI will on Monday send a tranche of ‘confidential’ documents received from a US-based estranged business associate of arms dealer Abhishek Verma to the Defence Ministry to seek its opinion whether it is a case of violation of the Official Secrets Act.
The agency has received number of documents related to several acquisition deals of defence forces from US-based attorney C Edmond Allen which he had sent to Defence Ministry, Enforcement Directorate and other investigative agencies of the country also.
CBI sources said if a case of violation of Official Secrets Act has to be filed, the complaint has to come from the Defence Ministry because only it can confirm whether the documents are of secret nature to attract charges.
They said most of these documents related to acquisition requirements are given to select defence supply firms and Verma being in alleged arms supply business, he could have got it but whether they constitute charges of OSA violation has to be decided by the departments concerned.
The two documents which the CBI is suspicious about are the Krishnamurthy report on the construction of new-generation submarines and relations of Verma’s alleged front company Ganton with a reputed helicopter manufacturer.
“Even on these two documents we cannot file any case, unless Defence Ministry or any of the authority concerned gives a complaint under the OSA,” one of the sources said.
The CBI has booked Verma and his wife Ancea Neascu for allegedly taking USD 5.30 lakh from Swiss firm Rheinmetall Air Defence AG for using his influence to stall the blacklisting proceedings initiated by the government against it after the Ordnance Factory Board scam had surfaced.
Verma had filed case against Allen accusing him of cheating him of Rs 55 crore and forging documents to defame him. A litigation between the two is going on in the US as well. (PTI)