India rejected a media report that an Indian official from its embassy in Washington had conspired with a compatriot businessman to illegally acquire US defence technology for the country's military programmes.

The official at Indian Embassy was asked to comment on a report by The Washington Post in the context of a guilty plea by Indian national Parthasarathy Sudarsan, CEO of Cirrus Electronics, to violating American laws on export of weapons technology and nuclear power testing equipment to India. The Post had reported that an employee with the Indian Embassy in Washington and Indian government agencies conspired with Sudarsan to obtain secret weapons technology from US companies, citing the plea by the Indian businessman in court. "Prosecution of private companies by the United States government for violation of laws is an internal US matter," the official said.

"As far as the Government of India is concerned, no Indian official has violated the laws of India or the United States," the official added.

"It is not our policy to obtain items from other countries in violation of their export control laws and regulations. We ourselves have strict export control laws in place for the export of dual use and sensitive items. Our record speaks for itself," he said.