The documents, based on which details of alleged misdoings in the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France were published by newspapers, were stolen from the Ministry of Defence either by current or former employees of the ministry, the central government told the Supreme Court on Wednesday.
As these documents pertain to defence deals and are covered under the Official Secrets Act, the government is planning to take “criminal action” against the newspapers which published the stories and the petitioner who used it in his petition, Attorney General (AG) K K Venugopal told the court.
Since the stories and petitions included top secret defence documents which were stolen, the top court should dismiss the review petitions, AG Venugopal said.
