Delhi Police arrested one person and detained six others on Monday, as part of a probe into a spiralling corporate leak scandal that has already claimed top energy executives, ministry employees and consultants.
The Crime Branch filed a case against Lokesh, a former employee at the high-security Shastri Bhavan that houses a number of central ministries, for allegedly leaking confidential documents from the coal and power ministries.
Lokesh, who now works with a Noida-based consultancy firm, has been sent to five days’ judicial custody.
So far, 12 people have been arrested for allege?dly stealing and selling secret documents from the petroleum ministry to private energy companies and consultancies for a hefty premium.
"We have arrested one more person, Lokesh, who used to provide stolen documents of coal and petroleum ministry to some corporate houses. His arrest led us to bust another racket," Delhi Police chief BS Bassi said.
Sources said police were informed about Lokesh during the ongoing probe into the petroleum ministry leaks.
Lokesh passed on sensitive ministry documents to his employers, police said, adding the firm has a huge database of subscribers, both individuals and corporates.
{{/usCountry}}Lokesh passed on sensitive ministry documents to his employers, police said, adding the firm has a huge database of subscribers, both individuals and corporates.
{{/usCountry}}"Various sensitive documents of ministries of coal, power and others have been recovered. A fake government ID card has also been recovered from Lokesh," the police told a local court.
The consultant had gone missing a day after the espionage case came to light but was detained a day before his arrest on Sunday.
The FIR registered under sections of trespass, theft, criminal conspiracy and fraud in this case are separate from the one involved in the petroleum ministry racket, where 12 people have been arrested so far.
“The second module is separate and has no linkages with the particular case though it belonged to the same class,” said Delhi Police chief BS Bassi.
The oil ministry leaks came to light on Thursday when the police announced the arrest of five persons, including two oil ministry employees.
The men were alleged to have used duplicate keys and forged identity cards to gain access to the ministry office in high-security Shastri Bhawan at night and photocopy documents related to high-value bids and pricing policies.
Four of those accused – Consultant Prayas Jain, ex-journalist Shantanu Saikia and Shastri Bhavan employees Lalta Prasad and Rakesh Kumar -- were also remanded to judicial custody till March 6 amid allegations that they were forced to sign on blank papers during their police interrogation.