Pradhan calls for severe punishment for culprits in corporate espionage case

Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday said the culprits in the corporate espionage case would be given the strictest punishment regardless of power or influence.

"The government has given clear orders that anyone who is involved will be punished. The ones that have been caught will obviously come up with a story. They will have to say something in their defence. The strictest form of punishment will be given regardless of power or influence," said Pradhan.

The executives from five energy companies - Shailesh Saxena (Manager, Corporate Affairs, RIL), Vinay Kumar (DGM, Essar), KK Naik (GM, Cairns India), Subhash Chandra (Senior Executive, Jubilant Energy) and Rishi Anand (DGM, ADAG Reliance), were arrested by the Delhi Police late on Friday evening.

Earlier in the day, the executives were produced before the Patiala court.

Two other persons arrested yesterday are Santanu Saikia, who runs energy portal, and Prayas Jain, an energy consultant. With this, the number of people arrested in this corporate espionage case has reached 12.

Santanu Saikia and Prayas Jain have been sent to police custody until February 23 along with two others, who were arrested earlier. Three others are already in judicial custody for 14 days.