The Centre on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, journalist - turned politician Arun Shourie and activist - lawyer Prashant Bhushan are guilty of leakage of sensitive information having a bearing on national security and combat capacity of Rafale fighter jets.
Citing "secrecy" in the matter, the Centre contended that the three petitioners - Sinha, Shourie and Bhushan - are "guilty of leakage of sensitive information, which offends the terms of the agreements" on the fighter jet.
In an affidavit, the government said the leaked information was now available to the "enemy/our adversaries", adding those who have conspired in this leakage were guilty of penal offences punishable under Indian Penal Code.
The offences include theft by unauthorized photocopying and leakage of sensitive official documents affecting national security, which relate to war capacity of combat aircraft, said the affidavit filed by the Defence Secretary Sanjay Mitra.
The Centre's affidavit comes on the eve of a hearing on the plea for the review of the apex court's December 14 judgement giving a clean chit to the Centre by holding that the decision - making process on the Rafale jets was not in doubt.
The matter is listed for hearing on March 14.
An internal inquiry, started on February 28, is aimed at finding out where the leakage took place.
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