NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday filed a charge sheet against Abhishek Verma, son of a former Congress MP, in the Naval War Room Leak case.

The charge sheet was filed in the court of Seea Maini, Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, CBI sources said. The agency charged Abhishek Verma with indulging in a criminal conspiracy to spy and under various sections of the Official Secrets Act. He was arrested on July 21 and is currently in judicial custody. He was charged under Section 120-B for criminal conspiracy, Sections 3 and 9 of the Official Secrets Act, 1923.

The accused was a group director of the Atlas Group of Companies and was also managing its affairs in India. Of this group, Atlas Defence and Atlas Telecom were into defence procurement areas and were in communication with the Ministry of Defence for supply of various equipment and system.

Atlas Interactive Private Limited, India, was also into the ``TV on Internet project'' with the BSNL, which failed. The income of this company, as shown in the balance sheet, was minimal whereas the expenditure was at least 10 times more.

The source of finance for such expenditure was only foreign remittances received. These remittances also seem to be the only source for the company's share capital.

Controlled bank accounts

The accused person charge-sheeted on Thursday also controlled all bank accounts of the group in India. This group had an intense interface with foreigners till the detection of the Naval War Room Leak, the charge sheet said.

The gist of the charges against Mr. Verma were that he conspired and obtained documents and information, calculated to be or intended to be, directly or indirectly, affecting the sovereignty and integrity of India.

He had also abetted the commission of offence under the OSA by his co-accused.

One of the earlier charge-sheeted accused was Vice-President of Atlas Defence Systems, Kulbhushan Parashar, instrumental in purchase of at least eight pen drives which were given to compromised defence officials to collect sensitive information.

Another charge-sheeted accused Ravi Shankaran was also closely associated with the Atlas Group.

The Naval War Room Leak case was registered on March 20 this year.

The modus operandi of obtaining classified defence-related documents was by cultivating defence officials through lavish parties and giving illegal gratification of different kinds.

Further investigation against the involved defence officials and other accused would continue, the agency said.

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