The Investigating Officer, Inspector Sunil Kumar, filed the chargesheet in court on April 17, 2015 and since then, police have met senior officials of the Ministry, sent multiple letters with reminders, but they have not received any “concrete response”.
New Delhi: In the Supreme Court last week, Attorney General K K Venugopal, making submissions against a plea seeking review of its December 14, 2018 order that dismissed PILs for a probe into alleged irregularities in the Rafale deal, threatened to invoke the Official Secrets Act (OSA) and initiate “criminal action” against two publications and a lawyer. He initially did not name the publications but towards the end of the hearing said “documents in the possession of The Hindu and ANI are stolen documents”.
Four years ago, there was a similar threat to invoke the Official Secrets Act, in an altogether separate matter.
On February 27, 2015, then Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi said “confidential documents” from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG), had allegedly been photocopied and leaked in return for money. Since then, Delhi Police has sent eight letters and several reminders to the Ministry, seeking clarity on whether these documents come under the “classified” category — so they know whether or not the OSA can be invoked.
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