Admiral Bhagwat and his wife left Navy House today for Mumbai where on arrival at the Santacruz airport, he read out from a statement to the crowd of reporters: ``I will not allow my honour to be besmirched in this manner. I have given my whole life to the navy and the Nation, and I am proud of the legacy I am leaving. As a loyal and patriotic soldier of the Republic, I have done my duty by our sacred Constitution and the rule of law.''

However, the soft-spoken Admiral was also quick to point out that his silence did not mean that he will take things lying down. ``I will not allow these lies and slander to pass,'' he promised. When asked whether he would move court, he declined to comment.

The Bhagwats were received by Mrs and Rear Admiral B K Ray and his staff, sans ceremonial grandeur. Speaking to The Indian Express, Rear Admiral Ray, Chief of Staff, Western Naval Command said that Bhagwat was accorded a welcome as per the ``long standing tradition'' of the Navy.

Though nobody seemed sure of the protocol on receiving a dismissed CNS -- and there were doubts the same had been breached -- Rear Admiral Ray said matter-of-factly: ``Admiral Bhagwat was the CNS, and I, being the chief of staff of the Western Naval Command, was absolutely right in receiving him.''

Ray explained that welcoming a former CNS was a standard practice, and he had specific directives to do so from his bosses. ``It doesn't matter weather a CNS retires naturally or not. For the Navy, Bhagwat is still a former admiral,'' he said, showing that the Navy preferred to ignore protocol, insofar as Bhagwat was concerned, testifying to his popularity in the Navy.

However, a senior retired command intelligence officer, when contacted, while agreeing that the protocol was indeed applicable to a former CNS on his first visit or when invited to an official function, it did not apply to a dismissed Naval officer, whatever his rank.

When the Bhagwats left Navy House in the Capital this morning, the mood was sombre: no guard of honour, no bands, no line-up of sailors. A few officers and his personal staff stood at the entrance braving the fog and the chill as Bhagwat and his wife left.

Wearing his Lawrance School Sanawar blazer, he was flanked by his wife who, ever since he was dismissed, has aggressively presented his case to the public. Even today, she made it clear that the battle wasn't over. ``You know his school principal once wrote in his report card that Vishnu will die without doing any work,'' she said today. ``But what he has done has made the entire armed forces proud of him.'' In Mumbai, she said that Admiral Bhagwat would address the press in detail later.

Bhagwat quoted Bal Gangadhar Tilak in his statement: ``I have thought often of what Lokmanya Tilak said when he faced trial for sedition in colonial India: `There are higher powers that rule the destiny of men and nations, and it may be the will of providence that the cause which I represent may prosper more by my suffering than by remaining free' (in office).''

Though being seen with Admiral Bhagwat may not exactly be the most politically correct to do in the armed forces, Chief of Army Staff General Ved Prakash Malik came to ``see off'' a friend, a colleague and a neighbour.

There was not much activity in the palatial Navy House this morning. Admiral Bhagwat stood admiring Anjolie Ela Menon's mural painting depicting The view from the Admiral's cabin at sea. The luggage had been packed. There weren't many problems: just a suitcase lock not working but his personal staff took care of it.

``We had to take real good care while packing old photographs. Some of them are as old as their marriage,'' said an aide. Bhagwat met Niloufer in National Defence Academy (NDA) Khadakvasla in 1964, when she was 17, and had just joined a Pune college. She had accompanied her father, the then district magistrate of Pune, to NDA. At a social gathering there she met Bhagwat, then an NDA instructor and three years later they got married.

``Our son is proud of his father and emulates him. He too joined the Navy and is a submariner. Our daughter is a successful pediatrician in Mumbai. The entire family is strongly behind the Admiral,'' she said.

Admiral Bhagwat went around the house which he saw for the first time as a flag lieutenant, as a young Aide De Camp (ADC) to the then Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Chatterjee (in 1966), the second time as the naval assistant to Admiral Tahiliani (1986) and then when he himself became the Naval chief in 1996. He shook hands with each member of his personal staff and then sat in his car. Barely had their car turned into Rajaji Marg that a sailor came pedalling furiously and put the board of Admiral Sushil Kumar on the Navy House. Bhagwat's luggage was still to move out.