Varun Gandhi denies being honey trapped and leaking defence secrets

New Delhi: Bhartiya Janata Party Member of Parliament Varun Gandhi on Friday denied the reports of him leaking defence secrets to middlemen and arm manufacturers after being honey-trapped.

A New York based lawyer Edmonds Allen had written a letter to the Indian Prime Minister, earlier in September last, stating the Gandhi was honey-trapped and compromised by Abhishek Verma a middleman and provided some crucial defence information with him.

The letter was revealed by Swaraj Abhiyan leaders Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav at a press conference in the national Capital on Friday morning.

What the letter stated:

• Allen wrote to the Prime Minister, Defence Minister, Central Bureau of Investigation and the National Security Agency with all the details regarding the matter on August and September last.
• In the letter Allen had alleged that Verma blackmailed Varun who was a member of the Defence Consultative Committee and insisted him to share sensitive information on crucial arms matters.

Also Read: Missing An-32: Defence minister meets flight lieutenant’s kin

What Varun said:

• Varun has rejected all the charges on him. He said that if 1 per cent of the charges would be proved he would quit politics.
• He said that he has not met Verma since year 2004 and threatened to file a defamation suit against Bhushan and Yadav for representing false image of the politician.
• "The entire information presented does not contain any proof that either I had accessed or shared any communication regarding sensitive information to Verma," Varun said.
• I had last met Verma while studying post graduation in London, said Gandhi. He further addes that he has not met Verma since he entered into politics.
• “The only reason why I even know of him is because his parents were members of parliament and was a respected family. I knew them as many other leaders knew them," the BJP MP said.

You may also read: BRICS 2016: India-Russia sign defence deals worth billions

• Responding a question related to his knowledge of any sensitive information while he was the member of committee, Gandhi said, "any MP who has been on that committee knows that not even 0.1 percentage of any confidential information is shared with the committee."
• It may be mentioned that Verma is facing a trial in the Naval War Room Leak case of 2006.