NEW DELHI: The "pen drive," the latest computer-aided device, is posing a new challenge to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the probe into cyber-leakage of crucial documents and information on defence.

Highly placed sources in the CBI, who are connected to the ongoing investigations into the Naval War Room Leak case, said the agency's detectives and cyber crime unit officials were burning the midnight oil to proceed logically with the probe that has assumed "very wide" ramifications.

The agency on Monday filed the first charge sheet against five former Naval and Air Force officials. It was filed before a Delhi court, where the CBI has also made an application seeking in-camera proceedings. It will come up for hearing on July 10.

The sources said "leaking crucial documents" became easy with new pocket-sized devices, compatible with computer systems. "This is a new problem in ensuring foolproof cyber security. We have to plug this in due course."

The case also has an uncanny resemblance to the National Security Council Secretariat case in which a systems analyst S.S. Paul was arrested for allegedly leaking information to a U.S. diplomat. It is believed that the leakage from the NSC Secretariat also took place through the "pen drive."

The charge sheet in the Naval War Room Leak case, running into some 250-pages, names four former Service officers, including the retired Commander Kulbhushan Parashar of the Navy, one of the kingpins in the scandal, and a close associate of Ravi Shankaran, who is a nephew of the Navy Chief Admiral Arun Prakash's wife. Shankaran has been proclaimed an offender. He is believed to be in Europe.

CBI raids

The CBI's recent nationwide raids in 20 places and the information gathered are likely to reveal how well connected arms dealers and middlemen operate in defence deals and the means they adopt to extract information from key serving officers.

The sources said Kulbhushan Parashar and Ravi Shankaran got vital information, including complete plans for the Navy's network-centric warfare system, quality assurance, defence procurement, networking and details of warships and Navy ships.

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