The Delhi High Court Tuesday overturned a trial court’s order and permitted the CBI’s request to examine US-based whistleblower C Edmonds Allen through video conferencing as a prosecution witness in the 2012 case in which arms dealer Abhishek Verma was booked under the Official Secrets Act (OSA).

Justice Sanjeev Narula observed that the trial of a case invoking OSA does not imply curtailing the processes of trial, but rather the “proper judicial response” is to “manage risk while preserving the integrity of the proceeding.”

Verma and his wife, Anca Maria Neacsu, were accused of conspiring with others to obtain and disseminate classified defence information to unauthorised persons, including Allen, who was Verma’s escrow fund manager. The confidential defence documents included specifications of surveillance aircraft being bought by the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), the minutes of a meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council, and a classified report on the Navy’s procurement of next-generation submarines. The first chargesheet was filed in November 2012, along with two other supplementary chargesheets filed in 2015 and 2016.

While allowing the whistleblower’s examination as a prosecution witness, Justice Narula relaxed a stipulation under the Delhi High Court Video Conferencing Rules 2020, which mandates that before directing examination of a witness via video conference, the court “will obtain the consent of the accused.”

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)...

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