The Delhi Police have claimed to have broken up a corporate espionage ring by arresting five persons, two lower level government employees, two former officials and a driver. They are alleged to have obtained copies of documents from the ministry of petroleum and sold them to private companies in the petrochemical and energy sector.
A number of other individuals, including an employee of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) have also been detained and are being questioned in connection with the alleged theft of documents. These persons had not been arrested as of late Thursday evening. Those being questioned included a journalist, according to sources familiar with the probe. The offices of a number of companies were raided by the police and these raids were still on late Thursday evening, as per these sources.
Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan termed the episode as a “very serious issue“ for the government. “The government will thoroughly investigate the nature of documents being leaked and the people who may have benefited from it and take tough action against them,“ Pradhan said, not naming any company which may have benefited from the leakage, on the ground that such revelations will be “unfair“ to the investigation process.
Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi said the police have “identified“ the recipient of the documents. “We have detained them and questioning is on,“ he said, not naming the recipients.An official of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) confirmed one of their employees had been detained. The official spoke on condition that he should not be identified. “It has been brought to our notice that one personnel has been detained by law enforcement authorities. We are unaware of more details. An internal probe is under way as per our robust internal standards.The matter is under investigation as per law and we are determined to cooperate in every possible manner. We are already in international arbitration with the said ministry on all important matters. Our only expectation is a fair and expeditious resolution of our legal rights and contentions by the arbitrators,“ the RIL official said in a text message.
The Delhi Police official statement, meanwhile, pointed to the involvement of companies in the energy sector. “Investigations have revealed that the stolen documents were being sold to some individual of private energy consultancy companies as well as to those in the petrochemical energy sector,“ the official police statement said. Bassi added that the “recipients“ of the documents will be proceeded against.“Whoever is the recipient of the documents, action will be taken,“ he said.
Pradhan said the BJP government has taken steps to stop leakage of documents. “Earlier, the documents were freely leaked. The new government started keeping an eye on everything; installed CCTV cameras. Some people objected to the installation of cameras,“ Pradhan said.
Bassi pointed to a high-tech plot to get hold of documents, saying the accused used to get CCTV cameras at Shastri Bhawan “disabled“ when they intruded into the ministry of petroleum late at night with the help of fake identity cards and duplicate keys of the offices of bureaucrats.“This had apparently been going on for several years. They got official documents photo-copied which were sold for a reward. We are studying the said documents. If they are found to be confidential, the Official Secrets Act could be invoked depending on the nature of the documents, Right now, the case is lodged on charges of theft and trespass,“ Bassi said.
Police said the two serving government officials involved in the plot were Asha Ram and Ishwar Singh, both multi-tasking staff employees at Shastri Bhawan. They are being accused of helping the three others by disabling the CCTV cameras.
The arrests took place after police found a car parked near Shastri Bhawan with three persons carrying official documents of the ministry of petroleum.
“They were identified as Lalta Prasad, Rakesh Kumar (sons of Asha Ram) and Raj Kumar Chaubey -a driver. Lalta Prasad and Rakesh Kumar had earlier been temporarily employed as multi-tasking staff at Shastri Bhawan. Both had left the employment in 2012. During their stint at Shastri Bhawan, they realised that they could easily lay their hand on official documents,“ the police said.
Police added that the accused had fraudulently obtained temporary passes to Shastri Bhawan and unauthorised government signages for their car.
A number of other individuals, including an employee of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) have also been detained and are being questioned in connection with the alleged theft of documents. These persons had not been arrested as of late Thursday evening. Those being questioned included a journalist, according to sources familiar with the probe. The offices of a number of companies were raided by the police and these raids were still on late Thursday evening, as per these sources.
Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan termed the episode as a “very serious issue“ for the government. “The government will thoroughly investigate the nature of documents being leaked and the people who may have benefited from it and take tough action against them,“ Pradhan said, not naming any company which may have benefited from the leakage, on the ground that such revelations will be “unfair“ to the investigation process.
Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi said the police have “identified“ the recipient of the documents. “We have detained them and questioning is on,“ he said, not naming the recipients.An official of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) confirmed one of their employees had been detained. The official spoke on condition that he should not be identified. “It has been brought to our notice that one personnel has been detained by law enforcement authorities. We are unaware of more details. An internal probe is under way as per our robust internal standards.The matter is under investigation as per law and we are determined to cooperate in every possible manner. We are already in international arbitration with the said ministry on all important matters. Our only expectation is a fair and expeditious resolution of our legal rights and contentions by the arbitrators,“ the RIL official said in a text message.
The Delhi Police official statement, meanwhile, pointed to the involvement of companies in the energy sector. “Investigations have revealed that the stolen documents were being sold to some individual of private energy consultancy companies as well as to those in the petrochemical energy sector,“ the official police statement said. Bassi added that the “recipients“ of the documents will be proceeded against.“Whoever is the recipient of the documents, action will be taken,“ he said.
Pradhan said the BJP government has taken steps to stop leakage of documents. “Earlier, the documents were freely leaked. The new government started keeping an eye on everything; installed CCTV cameras. Some people objected to the installation of cameras,“ Pradhan said.
Bassi pointed to a high-tech plot to get hold of documents, saying the accused used to get CCTV cameras at Shastri Bhawan “disabled“ when they intruded into the ministry of petroleum late at night with the help of fake identity cards and duplicate keys of the offices of bureaucrats.“This had apparently been going on for several years. They got official documents photo-copied which were sold for a reward. We are studying the said documents. If they are found to be confidential, the Official Secrets Act could be invoked depending on the nature of the documents, Right now, the case is lodged on charges of theft and trespass,“ Bassi said.
Police said the two serving government officials involved in the plot were Asha Ram and Ishwar Singh, both multi-tasking staff employees at Shastri Bhawan. They are being accused of helping the three others by disabling the CCTV cameras.
The arrests took place after police found a car parked near Shastri Bhawan with three persons carrying official documents of the ministry of petroleum.
“They were identified as Lalta Prasad, Rakesh Kumar (sons of Asha Ram) and Raj Kumar Chaubey -a driver. Lalta Prasad and Rakesh Kumar had earlier been temporarily employed as multi-tasking staff at Shastri Bhawan. Both had left the employment in 2012. During their stint at Shastri Bhawan, they realised that they could easily lay their hand on official documents,“ the police said.
Police added that the accused had fraudulently obtained temporary passes to Shastri Bhawan and unauthorised government signages for their car.
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