Journalist Shared “Sensitive” Defence Details With Foreign Countries

India: The CBI has registered an FIR against a freelance journalist for allegedly collecting sensitive information related to the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Army, and sharing them with intelligence agencies of foreign countries, officials said on Tuesday.

Following the FIR, the agency conducted searches on premises linked to Vivek Raghuvanshi, listed as India correspondent of a US-based portal on defence and strategic affairs on its web site, and people close to him at 12 locations in Jaipur and the National Capital Region (NCR), they said.

The agency has booked Raghuvanshi under Section 3 (spying) of Official Secrets Act read with Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.

A number of sensitive documents was recovered during the searches and sent for legal scrutiny, the officials said.

Sources said the agency has launched an exhaustive probe to find Raghuvanshi’s accomplices in India and abroad.