In an embarrassing disclosure, the CBI has informed a court here that it is yet to go through the book written by a former RAW official, who has already been booked by it for alleged violation of the Official Secrets Act.
The CBI had booked Major General (retd) V K Singh on September 19 for allegedly violating Section 5 of OSA (wrongful communication of information). The agency was taken aback over the questioning by Additional Sessions Judge Babu Lal, who asked it to provide documents pertaining to the violation of law.
Mr Singh had authored a book India’s External Intelligence: Secrets of RAW.
The judge said there was no need to pass any order on Singh’s application for anticipatory bail, as the CBI investigating officer had stated that the RAW official would be arrested only after the court granted permission.
Actual information
CBI counsel Dhan Kishore had submitted before the court last week that the book written by the applicant consisted of 180 pages. He had stated that investigators would have to go through it before the actual nature of information leaked by the applicant was ascertained. The judge had asked the CBI to place documents before the court and explain how they infringed the OSA provisions.
The CBI informed the court that it would place before it all details about the case on November 5, 2007.
While arguing for his client, advocate Khullar claimed that Singh had not violated any provisions of the OSA.
The CBI raided Singh’s residence three months after his book on alleged corruption in the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) hit the stands.