India arrests five over defense leak

ISN SECURITY WATCH (Monday, 10 April 2006: 15.12 CET) - Indian police have arrested five people, including three retired naval officers, over an alleged leak of military secrets said to be intended to help international arms firms win lucrative defense deals.

The arrests late last week followed 17 raids across the country, news agencies reported.

Police also raided the premises of Ravi Shankaran, the alleged mastermind of the incident, also a relative of navy chief Admiral Arun Prakash.

Four other suspects have also been charged in what has been dubbed the "War-Room Leak", but they have not yet been arrested, reports said.

Kulbhushan Parashar, a former naval officer, was among the five arrested.

According to local media reports, a former air force wing commander, two ex-naval commanders, a former naval captain are among those accused of involvement in the case. The rest were civilians.

Indian authorities suspect that two naval officers took early retirement and paid other military officers to leak classified information from the navy war-room in the capital, New Delhi.

Earlier this year, local media reported that the leaks had involved India's purchase of six French Scorpene submarines.