Documents leak case: custody of six accused extended

A Delhi court today extended till April 15 the judicial custody of six accused arrested in the case in which classified and secret government documents were allegedly procured and passed on to others.
Chartered Accountant Khemchand Gandhi, Paresh Chimanlal Budhdev, partner in Mumbai-based Chitale and Associates, three government servants -- Ashok Kumar Singh, Lala Ram Sharma and Daljeet Singh -- and Ram Niwas were produced before Special CBI Judge S C Rajan, after expiry of their judicial custody.
The court extended their judicial custody till April 15 after CBI said that their investigations were continuing.
One of the accused, Lala Ram Sharma, has moved bail plea before the court which would be heard on April 6.

CBI had earlier told the court that a large number of incriminating documents have been seized during the probe and the accused were allegedly procuring and passing on classified and secret documents to others.
Ashok Kumar Singh was working as under secretary in Department of Disinvestment of the Finance Ministry, Lala Ram Sharma was a section officer in the Department of Economic Affairs and Daljeet Singh an upper divisional clerk in Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion of the Ministry of Commerce and Industries.

CBI had said it was a well-flourished racket that was being operated out of Delhi with deals being fixed mostly in country's financial capital Mumbai and Bengaluru.

The agency had conducted raids and arrested the accused on March 12 after it lodged a case of criminal conspiracy and theft under the IPC and misuse of official position under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act against them.
CBI sources had said a trove of confidential documents and Rs 60 lakh cash were recovered from Gandhi's residence. Large number of electronic documents were found on the laptop, tablets and hard disks recovered from the residence of the officials and the chartered accountant, they had said.
It was alleged that the government servants were passing on documents relating to foreign investment policies, which were floated in the ministries, to Gandhi, who in turn passed them on to big corporates for a price.

The agency had said that this case was separate from the one being probed by the Delhi Police, as it was proper sale of documents via a chartered accountant to the corporate groups who had interest in foreign investments.