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A Board of Inquiry (BoI), headed by Rear Admiral Ganesh Mahadevan, the Navy's expert on IT, was convened at Naval Headquarters on 22 July 2005 to inquire into circumstances leading to information security violation at the Directorate of Naval Operations. The BoI was charged with ascertaining the source of the information leakage, lacunae in the existing system and recommending remedial measures to prevent recurrence of any such incident.
The Board conducted detailed investigations and examined a large number of witnesses. In addition, a number of documents pertaining to the incident were thoroughly scrutinised. Assistance of other government agencies was also sought and utilised for clearly establishing the degrees and areas of information compromise and to establish prima-facie culpability. The Board submitted its findings to Naval Headquarters on 14 September 2005.
It has been clearly established by the Board that there has been a leakage of information of commercial value to unauthorized persons. It has identified the personnel culpable for specific acts of omission and commission in the leakage. The findings of the BoI have been examined in detail at Naval Headquarters and it has been ascertained that some individuals had parted with information of commercial value primarily pertaining to qualitative requirements of equipment being procured by the Navy. This included items like patrol boats, diving support craft, electronic chart displays, breathing air compressors, and other such equipment.
The proceedings of the BoI have received detailed scrutiny by the concerned Directorates at Naval Headquarters and were forwarded to the MoD on 28 Sep 05. Considering the seriousness of this breach, a detailed report along with action recommended against those culpable, has been forwarded by Naval Headquarters to the competent authority to initiate necessary disciplinary action under the Navy Act, 1957. In addition to existing security orders on security, remedial measures both in terms of physical security and organizational checks and balances are being expeditiously instituted to prevent recurrence. It is reaffirmed that there has been no compromise on information relating to operational matters.
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