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Corporate espionage case: CBI raids eight places, three arrested

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petroleum-L-N

New Delhi: The CBI on Thursday raided eight places, including offices of various ministries and private establishments, in New Delhi and Mumbai in another case of leakage of confidential government documents and arrested three people, an official said.

A Central Bureau of Investigation official said they conducted raids at six places in New Delhi and two in Mumbai in the leakage of documents related to foreign investments in the finance and commerce ministries.

Clarifying that it was a case separate from the espionage case being probed by Delhi Police, the official said the stolen documents were being sold for consideration by certain government officials to Mumbai-based chartered accountant (CA) Khemchandra Gandhi.

“The CA along with two other people have been detained. The CA used to pass the stolen documents to various corporate houses. We have recovered Rs.60 lakh from the office and house of the the CA,” said the official.

The three people were later arrested.

Reports said that apart from cash, the CBI also recovered several documents.

Delhi Police has so far arrested 16 people in connection with two separate FIRs in the leakage of government documents related to the ministries of petroleum, coal and power.

These documents were then supplied to the corporate companies to benefit them, police said.

(IANS)

Petroleum ministry leak: Fresh arrest exposes new espionage racket

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Petroleum ministry leak

New Delhi: The Delhi Police Monday confirmed it had arrested another person in the case relating to the leak of petroleum ministry documents which, an officer said, has helped in busting another espionage racket.

“We have arrested one more person, Lokesh, who used to provide stolen documents of coal and petroleum ministry to some corporate houses. His arrest led us to burst another racket,” police chief B.S. Bassi told the media.

Lokesh, in his 30s, has been a former member of the multi-tasking staff (MTS) at Shastri Bhavan in the past.

Police said that a second FIR has been registered against Lokesh and some other people as they were found to be part of another racket in which they used to provide classified documents related to petroleum, energy and some other ministries.

Sources said that the crime branch got information about Lokesh during the ongoing probe into the petroleum ministry leak that was unearthed on the night of Feb 17, with the arrest of two former MTS employees of Shastri Bhavan.

Lokesh was connected with some other people, who had relations with corporate houses who used the stolen documents provided by the accused to them, police said.

He was taken to Shastri Bhawan Monday to recreate the crime scene.

Lokesh, who went missing a day after the espionage case came to light, was detained a day before his arrest Sunday. He will be produced in a Delhi court after 2 p.m., Monday.

On Monday, the Delhi Police team, meanwhile, detained more than eight people working with different ministries including coal, petroleum and energy from Shastri Bhawan.

Police sources also said that they were on the lookout for one Rajiv Singh, a coal ministry employee and also some of Lokesh’s associates.

Earlier, police arrested 12 people, including a former journalist and five corporate officials, in connection with the case.

(IANS)

Kejriwal to Delhi Police: Target top beneficiaries of document leak

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Arvind Kejriwal

New Delhi: Complimenting the Delhi Police for unearthing the corporate espionage racket, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said it should now target the “top people” benefitting from the leak.

“Compliments (to the) Delhi Police for busting espionage racket. During interrogation, police should try to reach top people, who would benefit from leaked info,” Mr. Kejriwal tweeted.

Five senior executives from top energy firms and two consultants are among those arrested in the sensational corporate espionage scandal, in which classified documents, including an input for upcoming Finance Minister’s budget speech were allegedly leaked.

The AAP on Friday demanded setting up of a commission to probe the matter in a time-bound manner.

(PTI)

Oil espionage case: Former journalist Santanu Saikia, Prayas Jain arrested

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petrol-price-oil

New Delhi: After arresting five people in connection to the oil espionage scam, the Delhi crime branch today arrested former journalist Santanu Saikia and Prayas Jain in relation to the case.

Santanu Saikia runs an energy portal called Indian Petro and Prayas Jain is an energy consultant at a Melbourne based company.

A senior police official said,”We have arrested Prayas Jain and Shantanu Saikia in this connection. Both of them are energy consultants who received stolen documents.”

Both Santanu and Prayas will be produced before the court by noon today.

So far, seven people have been held for allegedly leaking oil ministry documents to business houses.

According to police sources, more arrests are likely to take place soon.

Sources have revealed that an Essar official has been questioned by the crime branch. However, the Essar company officials were not available for any comments.

The crime branch also questioned one company official of Reliance ADAG. But, the Reliance ADAG official has not been detained as no indiscriminate papers were found.

Yesterday, police had detained five people including two Oil Ministry officials, a Reliance Industries(RIL) staffer and two other middlemen for allegedly leaking important oil ministry documents to companies.

Raids were yesterday conducted at several establishments including a prominent building in Connaught Place which houses offices of a leading private petroleum firm believed to be RIL.

In a case reminiscent of the Spy scandal in mid 80s, some journalists who claimed to be independent energy consultants, and employees of certain petro companies were also said to have been detained for questioning in the development that has set off sensation in political and corporate circles.

Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi had said 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.”

“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.

They were identified as Lalta Prasad (36), Rakesh Kumar (30) and Raj Kumar Chaubey (39). Official documents were recovered from them.

Reliance Industries said it has been brought to the company’s notice that one personnel has been detained by law-enforcement authorities.

(Agencies)

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