Abhishek Verma and wife in CBI custody till June 21

A special court in Delhi today extended till June 21 the CBI custody of Abhishek Verma, businessman and naval war room leak case accused, and his wife in a graft case.

A special court in Delhi on Saturday extended till June 21 the CBI custody of Abhishek Verma, businessman and naval war room leak case accused, and his wife in a graft case.

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Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Judge Talwant Singh remanded Verma and his wife Anca Anca Neacsu, a Romanian national, to the probe agency's custody for five more days.

The CBI on June 9 had arrested Verma and his wife for allegedly receiving money from a Swiss arms company to stall the blacklisting proceedings initiated by the Indian government against it. They were booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The probe agency had requested the court to grant another seven days' custody of the accused for interrogation and confronting them with documents.

Verma's counsel Vijay Agarwal opposed the CBI's remand plea, saying that there should be a stronger ground for seeking custody.

The two accused were arrested a few weeks after the government blacklisted six defence companies, including Switzerland's Rheinmetall Air Defence (RAD). The CBI on June 8 registered a fresh case against Verma and raided his premises.

Verma has been accused of taking $530,000 from RAD for using his influence to stall the blacklisting proceedings against it.

He is also an accused in the 2006 naval war room case linked to leaking classified documents from the Directorate of Naval Operations.