The Board of Inquiry, which probed into charges of leaking classified information by four Commander level Navy officers on social networking websites, has recommended dismissal of two of them.
The Naval Headquarters is now going through the Board report and will then decide the quantum of punishment.
Officials, however, ruled out espionage and said the Board of Inquiry, so far, has not found anything to this affect. However, the Naval Headquarters are trying to ascertain the nature of information leaked by the officers posted in the Mumbai-based Western Command and whether it has compromised operational security as the websites were accessed by Indian nationals and foreigners.
Sources maintained that prima facie the leakage of classified information pertaining to location of warships and weapons on these platforms was an “inadvertent error” on part of the officers.
The alleged leakage took place despite strict instructions repeatedly by the Defence Ministry asking the Service officers to refrain from giving operational details on the social networking websites. The Board of Inquiry also found that these officers possessed classified information in their personal computers.
The Navy detected the alleged leakage a few months back and started tracking these officers and later instituted the Board of Inquiry in December last year to investigate the matter. The Board found the charges correct and recommended dismissal of two officers and stringent action against the other two earlier this month, sources said.
Navy chief Admiral Nirmal Verma had said on Thursday that action will be taken if needed against the four officers. However, he was yet to get the details of the case as the Naval Headquarters were going the Inquiry report, sources said.
Meanwhile, in the wake of this incident, the Army has ordered its officers to delete all the pictures and information showing their affiliation to the service from their personal profiles on social networking websites.
The order was issued in late October last year and the personnel were given three months to delete the pictures and the deadline expires in the next few days, officials said adding any officer not adhering to these instructions will face severe action.
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