NEW DELHI : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday attached the property and bank account of Ravi Shankaran, an accused in the Navy War Room leak case, for failing to appear before it for questioning.

On Monday, the CBI obtained the warrant of attachment from a court.He is related to the outgoing Chief of the Naval Staff, Arun Prakash.

Official sources here said CBI officials had attached Mr. Shankaran's factory in South Goa.

Luxury car

The CBI also froze his bank account in Mumbai but was unable to recover a luxury car said to have been with his parents in Pune. An Interpol Red Corner notice has also been issued against him.

Earlier this year, the CBI raided his residence and offices after arresting a former Naval officer, Kulbushan Parashar, at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here.

He reportedly told the CBI that Mr. Shankaran was in London after which it published the proclamation notice of the designated court in a local newspaper on August 11 asking him to appear before the agency for questioning. The Ministry of External Affairs also revoked his passport at the CBI's request.After the Defence Ministry handed over the case to it in February this year, the CBI registered a case against S. R. Surve, K. Kumar, V. K. Jha and V. Rana, dismissed officers of the IAF and the Navy, besides Mr. Shankaran. Their services were terminated by invoking the `Presidential pleasure doctrine.'

The dismissed officers have gone to court contending that the probe did not consider their version of events.

Defence Ministry sources said the leaked plans pertained to purchase of patrol boats, diving support craft, electronic chart displays, `breathing air compressors' and similar equipment.

The case unravelled after IAF counter-intelligence sleuths began keeping an eye on an extra-marital affair involving one of their officers.

They found traces of classified naval information on a pen drive and handed over the case to the Navy, which found that its officers had "collectively as well as individually compromised the security of classified information and thereby jeopardised the interests of the state."

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