The official spokesman of the CBI charged the newspaper with publishing an unauthentic document which did not belong to the agency's files or form part of their record of investigations into the Romesh Sharma case.

While standing by yesterday's story, which contained the names of several prominent politicians and bureaucrats under CBI investigation for their alleged links with Romesh Sharma, The Asian Age today published a document containing the names of politicians and bureaucrats it had named. The paper claimed the document was part of the CBI report submitted to the Government for necessary action.

While pointing out that the CBI had not submitted any report containing the names of the persons mentioned in the report to the Government, the spokesman added that theagency, if required, would take ``appropriate action'' against the publishing of the document.

The paper has however stood by its story and the authenticity of the document in its possession. It's Editor-in-Chief M J Akbar was, however, not available for comment despite repeated attempts to contact him.

Meanwhile, former Union Minister C M Ibrahim today served legal notices on Home Secretary B P Singh and Akbar, seeking clarification from them regarding a news item in the newspaper yesterday about his alleged links with Romesh Sharma.

In the notice, the former minister said ``irreparable loss and injury has been caused to his reputation among the masses as a devout Muslim and deeply religious man.''

In a related development, senior Congress leader Jitendra Prasada today alleged that Home Minister L K Advani had got Romesh Sharma's house raided in search of information with which he could embarrass Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

Speaking to reporters, Prasada alleged that the police raid onOctober 20 was conducted on the house of Sharma at the behest of Advani who perhaps wanted to get hold of some evidence against a senior Union Minister and a close relative of the Prime Minister.

The Congress leader, whose name also figures in the report, also charged Advani with misusing government agencies, including the CBI, to malign his political opponents by ``deliberately planting'' stories in media in connection with the Romesh Sharma case. Asked about his name also appearing in the list published by the newspaper, Prasada said he was ready for interrogation any time the government decided to do so.

``All the news appearing in the media in the last two months are deliberate plants...the Government agencies, including the CBI, is being used for this purpose. This is being done with the knowledge of Advani,'' he said.