NEW DELHI, India, March 14 (Reuter): India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said today it raided the home of the Chairman of the Indian Express publishing group in connection with the Official Secrets Act.
The Press Trust of India (PTI) quoted a CBI statement as saying it raided the New Delhi house of Ram Nath Goenka yesterday because his adviser S. Gurumuthy and others had been in contact with certain “foreign detective agencies””.
The CBI said it arrested Gurumurthy after searches of his home in Madras yesterday. It did not mention any charges.
Gurumurthy had written articles in the Indian Express newspaper, owned by Goenka, about licenses granted to the Bombaybased Reliance Industries Ltd., India’s largest textile mill, the CBI said.
The searches of Goenka’s house were conducted hours after the widely circulated Indian Express published a leaked private letter from President Zail Singh to Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in which Singh accused Gandhi of misinformation Parliament.
Opposition leaders said the raid was “politically motivated”.
But defending the raid, the statement said, “The CBI has received information on March 11 which clearly indicated Gurumurthy and some others have been in contact with certain foreign detective agencies and certain sensitive information available in government files were being passed on to them.
Article extracted from this publication >> March 20, 1987
