A senior naval officer, severely reprimanded in the war room leak case, Commodore Bimal Kumar Verma, is being promoted to Flag rank, creating ripples at naval headquarters.
Verma, who was the principal director of naval operations when the war room leak case came to light, managed to get away with only a "severe displeasure" note, defence sources said.
He was later given a key posting as India's Naval Attache to Iran and thereafter commanded INS Delhi class warship.
The officer is being considered for promotion to the rank of Rear Admiral, the sources said.
Verma is the younger brother of Vice Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral Nirmal Verma, who is tipped to become Chief of Naval Staff after Admiral Sureesh Mehta.
While Verma, though heading the Naval Operations Directorate, from where several classified documents were leaked out, got away with a "severe displeasure" handed out by the then vice chief of naval staff Venkatan Bhartan, his second in command Captain Kashyap Kumar and two other commanders V K Jha and Vijendra Rana were dismissed under Article 311.
According to Navy rules, the displeasure note by the vice chief is not included in the Annual Confidential report. This action then had raised eyebrows as officials felt that Capt Kumar and Verma should have been dealt at par.
His role was also questioned by the CBI, which is investigating the naval war room leak case, saying that there was a collapse at the supervisory level at the Naval War room.
This is not the only reprimand, the officer in question has received. He had got another "severe displeasure" for "misdeeds" while on duty at sea.
In a similar case in the Army, Defence Minister A K Antony intervened to stop the promotion of Major General Anand Kapoor, who was raided by the CBI over allegations of possessing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.
The officer's name had been forwarded for the post of Director General of Ordnance.
