NEWSLINKS US EDITION COLUMNISTS DIARY SPECIALS INTERVIEWS CAPITAL BUZZ REDIFF POLL THE STATES ELECTIONS ARCHIVES SEARCH REDIFF
The Central Bureau of Investigation has questioned a senior functionary of news portal Tehelka.com and a suspended director in the home ministry as part of its probe into the alleged leaking of documents from the ministry, agency sources said in Delhi on Sunday.
Agency sources said that the portal's Anirudh Bahal and the home ministry's Thomas Mathew were questioned by the agency's special crime branch, which has registered a case against Neeraj Kumar, suspended section officer in the ministry, under the Official Secrets Act.
Kumar is alleged to have leaked documents pertaining to the functioning of a Non Government Organisation in the Northeast to the news portal.
The CBI had allegedly recovered some 'hand-written' notes pertaining to the Northeast from Kumar's residence.
The CBI had registered a case against him in March for allegedly leaking official secrets.
"The government is settling political scores with Neeraj," Bahal said.
The sources said that Bahal appeared before the agency recently after returning from an overseas trip.
Confirming this, Bahal said that he visited the CBI office and answered all their queries and there was no intimation from the agency as to whether he would be needed again.
The CBI questioned Thomas Mathews on being told by Neeraj Kumar that he had passed the 'document' on to Tehelka reporter Samuel Mathews, sources claimed.
The CBI sources said that Samuel Mathews had still not appeared before the agency despite repeated verbal and written reminders.
The sources claimed that preliminary investigations and records in the home ministry revealed that Samuel Mathews used to visit Thomas Mathew in his office quite frequently.
However, in his only press conference, Thomas Mathew had denied having any links with the Tehelka reporter and said he used to receive many visitors daily and that he did not remember meeting any person by the name of Samuel Mathews.
The government had asked the CBI to go into the entire circumstances under which the story was leaked to the website.
The letter asking CBI for a probe was accompanied by a report prepared by the Intelligence Bureau against Neeraj Kumar, who has been suspended since last year, detailing his suspected illegal activities.
It was learnt that Kumar also shared a good rapport with Samuel Mathews, the sources said.
PTI
The Complete Coverage | Defence sites
Back to top
Tell us what you think of this report
