Documents leak: Defence ministry staffer arrested, probe on (Roundup)

The corporate espionage case continued to unravel Tuesday with a defence ministry employee arrested for alleged involvement in the leak of government documents even as police continued to question some employees of the coal and petroleum ministries.

Virender Kumar, a 31-year-old casual worker employed with the defence ministry since 2010, was arrested for providing a forged identity card along with official letterhead to Lalta Prasad, an accused already arrested in the documents leak case.

Police, however, said no sensitive documents were found leaked or stolen from the defence ministry and he only provided blank official letterheads to Prasad that were used to prepare forged letters.

These letters were used to project that a vehicle (registration no. DL13C-4734) - used by the accused while stealing the documents of the various ministries - was hired to perform official duties.

"On the letters, it was shown that a contract was signed with Dharam Singh Travel Agency by the office of the director general of Audit Defence Services," said Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Ravindra Yadav.

Kumar, a resident of west Delhi's Uttam Nagar, was produced before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sanjay Khanagwal, who sent him to a day's police custody.

Police told the court that he was required for custodial interrogation to unearth details of the fake identity card issued by him and the use of the ministry's stamp on it. They also said the letters were used by Rajkumar Chaubey, a private driver, to prepare fake permission for his vehicle to project that it was hired by the government.

Lalta Prasad, 36, and Rakesh Kumar, 30 - both brothers and residents of Delhi - along with Chaubey, a 39-year-old resident of Ghaziabad, were arrested on the night of Feb 17, leading to the uncovering of the crime. All three are in judicial custody.

So far, 14 people have been arrested and Delhi Police have registered two FIRs in connection with the leak of classified documents related to various ministries, including coal, petroleum and natural gas, and power.

The name of Kumar is mentioned in the first FIR.

Talking to the media, Delhi Police Commissioner B.S. Bassi said police have so far not come across any evidence that senior officials of any ministry were involved.

He also said investigators have so far only come across "leakage and theft of documents from petroleum, power and coal ministries and not from any other department".

"Investigation so far has revealed that the people who used to procure government documents used to rely on the employees who are the lowest on the ladder.

"They used to tell them that 'this person is the target, bring all the documents you find in his office'. They used to identify the document of their choice from the bunch. So far, we have not come across the name of any senior officer and neither have we had any evidence relying on which we can say so," he said.

Asked whether police will question senior officials of security agencies responsible for safekeeping of Shastri Bhawan, which house these ministries, as to how can CCTV cameras be shut down for the period of theft and those monitoring it did not come to know, Bassi said: "We have no reason so far to suspect them or question them."

Meanwhile, police Tuesday questioned seven employees of the coal and petroleum ministries for the second consecutive day.

Lal Babu and Ranjit Mahto, employees of the coal ministry, along with five petroleum ministry employees - Bhupendra, Amit, Virendra, Ram Kishore and Surender - were those questioned.

Earlier Tuesday, RIL corporate affairs manager Shailesh Saxena, Jubilant Energy senior executive Subash Chandra, Reliance Anil Dhirubahai Ambani Group (ADAG) deputy general manager (DGM) Rishi Anand, Essar DGM Vinay and Cairns India general manager K.K. Naik were also presented in the court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sanjay Khanagwal who sent them to judicial custody till March 5.

During the hearing, the executives alleged that they were forced to sign on blank papers by police during their custodial interrogation.