Navy war room leak: court imposes cost of Rs 10,000 on CBI

CBI has faced the ire of a special court which imposed Rs 10,000 cost on it for "unnecessarily" delaying the proceedings by not appointing a prosecutor in the 2006 Naval War Room leak case in which five persons, including three former naval officers and an ex-Wing Commander, face trial.
Special CBI Judge J P S Malik imposed the cost on the probe agency and issued a notice to its Superintendent of Police, who is dealing with the case, on this issue.
The court was annoyed as CBI has not yet appointed any prosecutor to represent its case in which the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi had earlier appointed Rajiv Mohan as Special Public Prosecutor (SPP).

The court said that on October 13, 2014, advocate Rajiv Mohan had informed it that he has resigned from the regular cadre of National Capital Territory, Delhi, and since he was appointed SPP in the case by Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, notification for appointing a new SPP was yet to be issued.
"Till date, no Special Public Prosecutor has been appointed on behalf of CBI nor it is decided that proceedings shall be conducted by a Public Prosecutor on the regular cadre, of CBI.
"Proceedings are being delayed unnecessarily because of inaction on the part of CBI. Costs of Rs 10,000 is imposed on CBI to be deposited with DLSA," the judge said, directing that the copy of the order be sent to CBI Director Ranjit Sinha.

Former Navy officer Kulbhushan Prashar, former naval commander Vijender Rana, sacked naval commander V K Jha, former IAF Wing Commander Sambha Jee L Surve and arms dealer and Delhi-based businessman Abhishek Verma are facing trial in the case for the offence of criminal conspiracy under IPC and under various provisions of Official Secrets Act(OSA).

The court, which had earlier fixed November 12 as the next date of hearing, cancelled it and adjourned the matter to November 26 for further proceedings.
The court is now recording the statements of prosecution witnesses in the case.
While Prashar, Surve, Rana and Jha are on bail, Abhishek Verma is lodged in jail and the court extended his judicial custody till November 26.