Arun Bhagat Defends Probe Against Ed Officals

Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief Arun Bhagat has defended the internal intelligence agency's probe into leaking of finance ministry documents to the press on technical grounds.

The IB chief has also defended the bureau's decision not to keep home minister Indrajit Gupta and home secretary K Padmanabhaiah informed of its action saying that he was not obliged to so.

The IB functioned according to the rule book and such 'routine' matters were not reported to the minister or the secretary, he is reported to have said.

Sources said that the IB has questioned the ED chief P Bezboruah to find out whether he had been meeting any journalists and passing on information on investigations into alleged Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (Fera) violations by the owners of a leading national daily.