UK to extradite navy war room case accused

The British government has cleared the extradition to India of former navy officer Ravi Shankaran, allegedly the main accused in the Navy War Room leak case.

The British government has cleared the extradition to India of former navy officer Ravi Shankaran, allegedly the main accused in the Navy War Room leak case. “The British government has cleared Ravi Shankaran’s extradition, but the order also gave him the right to appeal against it within 14 days in a higher court,” said a CBI spokesperson.

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The British government’s clearance came after a London court rejected Shankaran’s appeal against his extradition to India. According to the Westminster magistrates’court, his lawyers had presented no new evidence to prove that he had no ‘prima facie case to answer’ while ‘a case to answer has been made out’ against him.

The CBI may send its team of legal officials to Britain to co-ordinate and expedite Shankaran’s extradition with the authorities there. As per a commitment given to the British court in 2011, the CBI will not oppose Shankaran’s bail application once he gets extradited.

Shankaran, a former lieutenant commander who took voluntary retirement from Navy, is accused of running an espionage ring that allegedly illegally procured 7,000 pages of classified secrets from the Navy War Room.