Documents related to national security: Police tell court

Documents recovered from the five corporate executives, arrested in connection with Petroleum Ministry leak case, are related to "national security aspect" and charges under the Official Secrets Act might also be invoked in the matter, the Delhi Police today claimed before a court here.
The Crime Branch of Delhi Police produced the five accused before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sanjay Khanagwal and sought their custodial interrogation for five days.
"National interest was taken for a ride in the case. Documents related to national security have also been recovered. This may attract charges under the Offical Secrets Act," the police told the court which will pass the order on custodial interrogation later.

The five accused who were produced in the court are Shailesh Saxena from RIL, Vinay Kumar from Essar, KK Naik from Cairns, Subhash Chandra from Jubilant Energy and Rishi Anand from Reliance ADAG.
The police told the court that they have to consult the concerned ministries regarding the documents which have been recovered from the possession of the accused and their custodial interrogation was required to confront them with the same.
The police also told the court that these five accused were procuring these sensitive documents at the behest of their senior officials, some of whom might be interrogated in the ongoing investigation.

The advocates appearing for these five accused vehemently opposed the police's plea seeking five days police custody, contending that their clients have been illegally detained since February 18 and 19.
The defence counsel also contended that there was nothing to be recovered from their clients and the police have not told the court regarding the specific allegations against these accused.
With the arrest of these five accused, the total number of arrests in the case rose to 12. Seven others were produced in the court yesterday out of whom four were sent to police custody till February 23 and three were remanded to judicial custody for two weeks.