CBI conducts raids in Navy war room leak case

A joint team of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Income Tax criminal investigation unit on Thursday  carried out searches at the premises of Naval war room leak case accused Abhishek Verma after the probe agency registered a fresh case against him.

A team from the I-T Directorate of Criminal Investigation joined sleuths of the probe agency in carrying out searches in at least 10 locations in Delhi and Gurgaon, sources said.

A farmhouse in South Delhi and another property in Delhi had been raided by the teams from where some documents had been collected, they said.

Authorities said the CBI case was registered on the allegation that Verma took huge amount of money to get a Swiss defence company out of government’s blacklist.

The I-T department, according to sources, has begun a probe to detect alleged kickbacks being paid in the case and it has begun a preliminary investigation into some of the overseas accounts of Verma and his associates.

The I-T department is also reportedly in possession of classified data on Swiss and other accounts belonging to Verma and others known to him.

In what has come to be known as the 2006 naval war room leak case, Verma's former aide and US-based lawyer, Edmond Allen, had told CBI sleuths that the US-based businessman was involved in forgery and money laundering.

The CBI has also filed a FIR against Verma in the case.