New Delhi, Feb 21: Draft papers for the Union Budget to be presented on February 28, government documents on ONGC Videsh and, petroleum and natural gas opportunities in Sri Lanka are among the highly classified files stolen from the offices of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry in central Delhi’s Shastri Bhawan.
On Friday, police arrested seven more people in the case related to corporate espionage. Former journalist Santanu Saikia, energy consultant Prayas Jain, Shailesh Saxena of Reliance Industries, Vinay Kumar of Essar, K K Naik of Cairn India, Subhash Chandra of Jubilant Energy and Rishi Anand of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group were also arrested.
Saikia is associated with an energy portal Indianpetro. com, while Jain is associated with an oil and gas firm based in New Delhi and Melbourne. Others have been accused of buying the leaked documents, analysing them and selling them off to corporate houses. The arrests in the case made by police have reached 12.
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sanjay Khanagwal of the Patiala House Court in central Delhi remanded Shantanu, Prayas, Lalta and Rakesh in the custody of the crime branch until February 23. The remaining accused have been sent to 14-day judicial custody.
The crime branch on Friday took some of the accused to Shastri Bhawan as part of its investigation. Police told the court that Santanu and Prayas gave Rs 70,000 to Lalta and Rakesh every month for procuring the documents. “Lalta and Prayas were on their pay role,” police told court.
The documents were shared with corporate houses and had details of policies related to oil pricing as well as imports. The FIR filed by crime branch police on Wednesday said the documents were recovered from Lalta Prasad and his brother Rakesh Kumar. “Seven documents were recovered from a black bag carried by Lalta, while nine documents were recovered from a brown envelope carried by Rakesh on February 17,” said Joint Commissioner of Delhi Police (Crime) Ravindra Yadav.
Others have been accused of buying the leaked documents, analysing them and selling them off to corporate houses. The arrests in the case made by police have reached 12.
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sanjay Khanagwal of the Patiala House Court in central Delhi remanded Shantanu, Prayas, Lalta and Rakesh in the custody of the crime branch until February 23. The remaining accused have been sent to 14-day judicial custody.
The crime branch on Friday took some of the accused to Shastri Bhawan as part of its investigation. Police told the court that Santanu and Prayas gave Rs 70,000 to Lalta and Rakesh every month for procuring the documents. “Lalta and Prayas were on their pay role,” police told court.
The documents were shared with corporate houses and had details of policies related to oil pricing as well as imports.
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