Rafale deal: Petitioners put national security at risk by leaking sensitive info, Centre tells SC

"This puts the national security in jeopardy. Without consent, permission or acquiescence of the Central Government, those who have conspired in making the photocopy of these sensitive documents and annexing it to the review petition/ miscellaneous application and thereby committing theft by unauthorized photocopying of such documents...have adversely affected the sovereignty, security and friendly relations with the foreign countries," the affidavit said.

A French Rafale fighter jet lands on the aircraft carrier "Charles de Gaulle" on February 7, 2019 in the Mediterranean sea. (Photo by VALERY HACHE / AFP)

New Delhi: In a sensational development, the Centre on Wednesday filed an affidavit in Supreme Court in which it blamed petitioners Yashwant Sinha, Arun Shourie, Prashant Bhushan for leaking sensitive information of Rafale deal by unauthorisedly accessing documents only to present selective, incomplete picture of internal deliberations on national security and defence. The Centre told the apex court that documents filed by the petitioners seeking review of its Rafale deal verdict are related to war capacity of the combat aircraft. The government said the review plea filed by former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie as also activist advocate Prashant Bhushan has been widely circulated and is available to the country's enemy and adversaries. "This puts the national security in jeopardy. Without consent, permission or acquiescence of the Central Government, those who have conspired in making the photocopy of these sensitive documents and annexing it to the review petition/ miscellaneous application and thereby committing theft by unauthorized photocopying of such documents...have adversely affected the sovereignty, security and friendly relations with the foreign countries," the affidavit said. It said that even though the Centre "maintains secrecy", the review petitioners are "guilty of leakage of sensitive information, which offends the terms of the agreements". "The petitioners are using unauthorisedly accessed documents with the intention to present a selective and incomplete picture of internal secret deliberations on a matter relating to National Security and Defence," the affidavit said. Attorney general K K Venugopal had claimed the same last Friday that Rafale documents were not stolen from the defence ministry but was unauthorisedly photocopied by the petitioners that were deemed secret by the government. (With additional information from PTI)