"The buck stops with me," Navy chief Admiral Arun Prakash stated in Mumbai on Saturday in reaction to remarks by Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee that his force should fix responsibility at the highest level for the sinking of the warship INS Prahar.
"As Chief of Naval Staff, I take responsibility for all acts of commission or ommission by personnel under me," Prakash said when asked by reporters about the call by Mukherjee that action should be taken against personnel who deviated from standard operating procedure in operations.
Sharing the concern of the minister, Prakash said an inquiry was in progress to find out the cause of the collision between the Prahar and a Shipping Corporation of India container vessel that led to the sinking of the warship.
"We will take stringent action if the inquiry brings out any lapse on the part of personnel on board the warship," Prakash said.
On the war room leak, Prakash said he was the one who had initiated the board of enquiry into the incident. "We have taken action against the officers responsible and if the Central Bureau of Investigation probe throws up fresh leads, we will follow it," he said.
© 2026