PTI

New Delhi, Jun 23: Investigating the sensational naval war room leak case, the CBI on Friday conducted searches at 19 places in four cities including the premises of businessman Abishek Verma who has been accused of trying to procure confidential documents of the armed forces.

CBI sleuths searched 15 places in the national capital region, two places in Kolkata and a place each in Vishakhapatnam and Bhubaneswar, official sources said here.

They said the searches were part of the agency's probe into the naval war room leak, during which the CBI claimed to have found that certain officials of the Navy, Army and Defence Ministry had allegedly been provided "illegal gratification" for supplying secret documents.

One of the persons raided today, who runs a business, was close to certain officials who had been allegedly indulging in leaking confidential documents, the sources said.

In today's operation, CBI sleuths searched the residences and official premises of seven officials of the Navy, three officers of the rank of under secretary in the Defence Ministry and two Army officials, besides Verma and a chartered accountant.

The CBI registered a case in connection with the Naval war room leak on March 20 and carried out nationwide searches on April six, after which the agency arrested six people.

The Navy sacked three officials in October last year for the leak of information related to proposed purchases from its war room or Directorate of Naval Operations.