Scorpene leak: Uday Bhaskar calls for speedy probe

After the French Government revealed that documents related to Scorpene submarine were not leaked but stolen, defence expert Commodore (Retd.) C. Uday Bhaskar on Friday advised New Delhi to initiate a rigorous and speedy probe in the matter.

"The statement by the French Government puts the entire issue in a different prospective because till recently there was a certain degree of conjuncture that this may have been some kind of hacking or that these were inadvertently made available to various sub-contractors and that is how they came in to the public domain. So, I think the big distinction is that if the documents have been stolen then I think it is important that the investigation be carried out rigorously and in a very speedy manner so that the motivation can also be established," said Bhaskar.

"It could be commercial espionage, it could be corporate rivalry or it could have security dimension that relates to India's potential adversities," he added.

According to reports, the French Government yesterday said documents relating to Indian submarines were stolen from French naval contractor DCNS and not leaked.

India and France have opened investigations after The Australian newspaper published the news on Wednesday.

'The Australian' newspaper uploaded information on its website relating to information about operating instructions of underwater warfare system of the six Scorpene submarines, which are being built in India by French firm DCNS.