Six accused denied bail in documents leak case

A court here on Tuesday rejected bail applications of five corporate executives and a defence ministry staffer in the petroleum ministry documents leak case.

The bail applications of RIL corporate affairs manager Shailesh Saxena, Jubilant Energy senior executive Subash Chandra, Essar deputy general manager Vinay Kumar, Reliance ADAG deputy general manager Rishi Anand, and Cairns India general manager K.K. Naik were rejected by Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sanjay Khanagwal.

The court also rejected bail application of Virender Kumar, employed as a casual worker in the defence ministry. He was arrested here last month for his alleged involvement in the leak of documents from the petroleum and other ministries.

Other accused in the case, Lalta Prasad, 36, and Rakesh Kumar, 30 -- both brothers and residents of Delhi -- along with Rajkumar Chaubey, 39, a resident of Ghaziabad, were arrested Feb 17 night, the day the documents leak from the petroleum ministry was unearthed.

They are all in judicial custody with government employees Asharam, 58, and Ishwar Singh, 56, former journalist Santanu Saikia, who runs a web portal and covered the crime beat for several years, and Prayas Jain, a Melbourne-based energy consultant.

Delhi Police have registered two FIRs in connection with the leak of classified documents related to different ministries, including coal, petroleum and natural gas, and power -- the first on Feb 17 and second Feb 20.