The documents and a pen drive that BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis showed the press in March in Delhi and later handed over to the Union home ministry had been stolen from the SID during IPS Rashmi Shukla’s tenure, the state government told the magistrate court on Friday. The Maharashtra government said that someone stole the confidential data from the State Intelligence Department (SID) and gave it to opposition leader Fadnavis, and that this was a case of theft of intellectual property.

The Cyber Cell of Mumbai Crime Branch, which is investigating the matter under Official Secrets Act against an unknown person, had sought certain documents from the Union home ministry to conclude its probe. But when it did not get the documents, the state government moved to the Killa court seeking an order to the Centre to submit the papers and the pen drive that Fadnavis had given to the central government. In its reply to the court, the Union home ministry said the state’s application was vague and untenable.