The Delhi Police's Special Cell, which had been pursuing Raghuvanshi since September of last year, handed the investigation over to the CBI in May.
Digital Desk: According to officials, the CBI charged freelance journalist Vivek Raghuvanshi and retired Navy captain Ashish Pathak on Wednesday for allegedly obtaining crucial defence-related material covertly and passing it along to foreign intelligence services.
The CBI has designated Raghuvanshi and Pathak as defendants in the alleged breach of the Official Secrets Act and other offenses in its charge sheet submitted before a special court here, they claim.
On the website of a US-based portal on defense and strategic issues, Raghuvanshi and Pathak were named as their correspondents for India. They were both detained on May 16. According to a CBI spokeswoman, when the case was filed, "it was alleged that the accused (Raghuvanshi) and his associate (Pathak), who is currently employed by a (private) firm, was in possession of classified secret documents related to Indian defence establishments."
The Delhi Police's Special Cell, which had been pursuing Raghuvanshi since September of last year, handed the investigation over to the
CBI in May. Raghuvanshi and his kin allegedly collected Rs 3 crore from abroad, according to the central investigation agency.
The Special Cell of the
Delhi Police had received evidence from intelligence services that some Indian journalists were involved in gathering and transmitting information to foreign agencies, which could "spoil" India's relations with friendly countries.
On the basis of the data collected by the Special Cell, it was hypothesised that a journalist was covertly gathering "sensitive information" on "future procurement of the armed forces."
According to the FIR, the information obtained purportedly discloses the strategic preparedness of the country's classified communications and national security in addition to specifics of India's strategic and diplomatic discussions with friendly nations.
According to officials, the CBI took over the case at the request of the home ministry. On May 16, the CBI launched searches at the homes of Raghuvanshi and other suspects at 15 locations in Delhi-NCR and Jaipur after careful preparation and surveillance.
The spokesperson had stated that the CBI has confiscated 48 electronic devices, including laptops, tablets, mobile phones, hard drives, and pen drives, that belonged to the FIR-named accused and others connected to the said accused. Also confiscated, he had claimed, were a large number of damning documents pertaining to Indian defence establishments.
The CBI spokesperson had stated that "digital forensic experts of the CBI have also recovered the data stored in cloud-based accounts, e-mails, and social media accounts belonging to the accused and others."
"The examination of devices already confiscated from the accused's custody further showed that he was allegedly gathering secret information about India's defence acquisition from various sources.
He had contracts or arrangements for the exchange of secret information with numerous overseas businesses, agents, and people. Additionally, it was claimed that the accused and his family had received a sizeable sum of money from overseas sources," he had noted.
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