It's a Rs 10,000 crore scam, claims Saikia
Former journalist Santanu Saikia, who is among the arrested, said on Saturday it was a Rs 10,000 crore scam. "It's a Rs 10,000 crore scam and it was a cover up," Saikia told reporters, outside the crime branch office, while being taken to court.
5 corporate executives sent to police custory
The five corporate executives, arrested in connection with petroleum ministry documents leak case, were on February 21 sent by a local court to three-day police custody for interrogation as Delhi Police alleged materials recovered from them show "national security was taken for a ride." Chief metropolitan magistrate Sanjay Khanagwal allowed the crime branch of Delhi Police to quiz them in their custody till February 24 as the police said charges under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) might also be invoked in the matter as documents related to national security have been recovered.
Day 3: February 21
Police raid offices of Jain and Chandra
Police on Saturday raided the Patel Nagar office of Jain and Subhash Chandra, senior executive, Jubilant Energy, office in Noida. Police officials said that Chandra's office and some other rooms were searched to recover stolen documents. They also said that Shailesh Saxena, manager, corporate affairs, RIL had in his possession some documents relating to "national importance and security" and these had been passed by him to his seniors. All documents seized are "sensitive", an official said. Rajnath Singh told reporters that strong action will be taken and no guilty person would be spared. "We should be commended as we found out that this was happening, the culprits will be punished," he told reporters. "If we would have not been vigilant, this (scandal) would not have been busted," he added.
5 executives of top energy companies arrested
The crime branch on Friday evening arrested senior executives of India's top private energy companies -Reliance Industries, Essar, Cairns India, Reliance ADAG and Jubilant Energy . The arrested officials were Shailesh Saxena, manager, corporate affairs, RIL; Vinay Kumar, deputy general manager, Essar; Subhash Chandra, senior executive, Jubilant Energy; K K Naik, GM, Cairns India and Rishi Anand, DGM, Reliance ADAG.
Four remanded to police custody
Four of the accused in the petroleum ministry document leak case were on February 20 remanded in police custody till February 23 by a court after Delhi Police alleged they were providing "secret" material to certain corporate houses. The crime branch of Delhi Police produced the seven accused before chief metropolitan magistrate Sanjay Khanagwal and said it required custodial interrogation of Lalta Prasad, Rakesh Kumar, Prayas Jain and Shantanu Saikia as "sensitive" documents have been recovered.
The police alleged that "incriminating" documents of the Coal, Power and other ministries were recovered from the possession of the accused who were supplying these to certain corporate houses for their benefit.
Regarding the other three accused - Ishwar Singh, Asharam and Rajkumar Chaubey, the police said they were not required for custodial interrogation, so they be remanded in judicial custody. The court after hearing the submissions, remanded the four accused in police custody till February 23 while the three others were sent to two weeks judicial custody.
Five arrested taken to site of crime
Delhi Police on February 20 took the five persons, who they have arrested for allegedly stealing official documents from the petroleum ministry, to the site of the crime to check the access they had to the building. The five persons, including two junior employees of oil ministry, were taken to the rooms of senior officials which they had allegedly accessed using duplicate keys. The rooms that they had allegedly accessed in the middle of the night to steal official documents included rooms of joint secretary (refineries) and joint secretary (exploration), besides rooms of some directors. The bunch of keys allegedly found in their possession were used to open the rooms of top ministry officials they are suspected to have accessed, police sources said.
Day 2: February 20
Two energy consultants held in espionage case
Delhi Police on February 20 arrested two energy consultants in connection with leaking of classified documents from the petroleum ministry. "We have arrested Prayas Jain and Shantanu Saikia in this connection. Both of them are energy consultants who received stolen documents," said a senior police official. While Saikia is a former journalist who runs a web portal on petroleum issues and has his office in Defence Colony, Jain runs his consultancy firm in Patel Nagar.
Police conduct raids
Following up on the arrests, raids were conducted at several establishments including in Connaught Place. Disclosing details of the case, Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi told newsmen that action was taken on a tip off that two persons along with their associates were involved in "procuring, obtaining and stealing the official documents by trespassing into the offices of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas at Shastri Bhawan on February 17." They used to intrude in the night, he said. "A trap was laid and three persons came in an Indigo car near Shastri Bhawan. Two persons alighted and went inside while the third remained sitting in the car. After around two hours, when the two persons entered the car, all three persons were apprehended," he said.
Day 1: February 19 — First arrests
Delhi Police on February 19 arrested two oil ministry officials, a Reliance Industries(RIL) staffer and two other middlemen for allegedly leaking classified government documents to energy companies for money. The crime branch sleuths arrested Asharam (58) and Ishwar Singh (56), who were employed as multi-tasking staff in the ministry, along with three of their alleged accomplices. They were identified as Lalta Prasad (36), Rakesh Kumar (30) and Raj Kumar Chaubey (39).
The probe begins
The probe by security agencies led to the petroleum ministry where Asharam, a peon with access to petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan office, turned out to be one of the key men in the racket. Ministries and other government departments were alerted and asked to beef up their security. Once the probe began, dozens of phones were officially intercepted, after clearance from the home ministry. The agencies handed over crucial evidence, including call detail analysis, photographs, phone numbers and addresses of the suspects to Delhi Police.
What triggered the crackdown
The massive crackdown on corporate espionage in crucial ministries was the result of a four-month-long investigation conducted by the intelligence agencies at the behest of national security adviser Ajit Doval. Doval raised an alarm over the frequent reporting of classified matters in the media. Doval pointed out that most leaks came from government offices.
The sensational corporate espionage scandal, in which classified documents including an input for upcoming finance minister's budget speech were allegedly leaked, is getting murkier day by day. Here is a TOI ready reckoner on what triggered the crackdown, how it unfolded, what was the modus operandi of accused and so on.
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