By IANS
New Delhi : The Delhi High Court Monday granted bail to Vinod Kumar Jha, a dismissed Indian Navy officer accused of leaking secrets and classified information, as the prosecution failed to frame charges against him after one and half years of investigation.
Justice Pradeep Nadrajog granted bail to Jha, who had been in judicial custody after his arrest on April 6, 2006, on furnishing a personal bond of Rs.50,000 and a surety of the like amount.
He was asked to surrender his passport and inform the investigating officer about his residence, besides being directed to visit the police station once in two months and not to tamper with the evidence in the case.
Jha, working as a commander, was dismissed from navy in December 2005 on the basis of a report of the Board of Enquiry, which charged him with leaking sensitive information.
He had written to the court, seeking bail on the ground that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had arrested him but no incriminating document was recovered from his possession.
The court issued notice to the probe agency on an application filed by Jha challenging the trial court order on March 20 rejecting his bail plea.
Jha, currently lodged in Tihar jail for his alleged involvement in the case that has come to be known as the navy war room leak scam, said he had a glorious career and he was awarded the Shaurya Chakra by the president and had no criminal background.
Accusing the navy of torturing him severely for the alleged offence of adopting careless attitude in taking care of the classified defence do cuments, he contended that he was wrongly dismissed by the department. He said he had no intention of committing any offence.
Meanwhile, the bench of Justices R.S. Sodhi and B.N. Chaturvedi, which had taken suo motu cognisance of a letter written by Jha and subsequently converted it into a writ petition, dismissed his plea for a probe into the alleged ill-treatment and torture to him by the navy.