The corporate espionage scandal in India got even bigger with police launching a probe into documents allegedly stolen from the defence ministry even as the crime branch arrested Lokesh Sharma, a key player in the espionage case, and questioned eight others. In what will have implications for the country’s security, police interrogated a defence ministry employee for more than six hours on Monday, highly placed sources said.
He has been identified as Virender, who is suspected to have leaked classified documents from the highly sensitive ministry and was in touch with some of the accused in the case. With classified defence documents coming into the probe ambit, cops are likely to invoke the official secrets Act. Defence is the fourth ministry, after oil, coal and power, to enter the list of compromised departments.
Meanwhile, police arrested 33year-old energy consultant Lokesh Sharma, who worked for Noida-based firm Infraline Energy and was leaking documents from the petroleum, coal and power ministries. Police are looking for the firm's owner.
Cops believe Sharma not only supplied leaked documents to his company but also to other accused, including Santanu Saikia and Prayas Jain, and earned multiple profits in the operations. Saikia and Jain have been arrested earlier and hunt is on for other receivers.
Cops have registered a second FIR under similar sections in the case against Sharma and others and are analyzing the nature of the documents that were leaked from these ministries. A team led by additional CP Ashok Chand and ACP K P S Malhotra has been assigned to further probe the case.
Sharma was taken to Shastri Bhawan around noon where he led the cops to the rooms of employees he was in touch with to obtain government papers. Seven of them were picked up for questioning and were asked about their frequent contacts with Sharma. Police are seeking to establish the money trail before arresting some of these employees, sources said.
Reliance employees arrested
Employees of some of the conglomerates controlled by four of India's most prominent tycoons, including billionaire brothers Mukesh and Anil Ambani were also arrested. Two officials from Reliance Industries and Reliance Power, which are owned by Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani respectively, were brought before a court in New Delhi following their arrests. Three employees working for other energy sector businesses also appeared in court, including the Essar conglomerate, which is controlled by Ruia family, and Cairn India, the oil exploration division of billionaire Anil Agarwal’s London-listed Vedanta Resources.
India’s oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan promised a full investigation into the scandal, which emerged last week. This followed a police sting operation which led to the arrests of a series of middlemen on suspicion of illegally obtaining and then selling documents to the companies involved. “This government will not permit anyone to breach the system or bend the rules.”
Reliance Industries and Essar said they have launched internal investigations into the arrests of their employees. A spokesman for Reliance Power said it would “ensure full co-operation with the investigative agencies”. Cairn India declined to comment.
