Delhi Police say they may widen probe, invoke OSA

Initial investigations into the leak of classified documents from the petroleum ministry may have pointed to a case of theft and trespassing, but Delhi Police say that they will soon widen the probe and add sections of the Official Secrets Act.

Initial investigations into the leak of classified documents from the petroleum ministry may have pointed to a case of theft and trespassing, but Delhi Police say that they will soon widen the probe and add sections of the Official Secrets Act.

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Those arrested on Friday include Shailesh Saxena of RIL, Vinay Kumar of Essar, KK Nayar of Cairn India, Rishi Anand of Reliance ADAG and Subhas Chandra of Jubilant.

Senior police officials privy to the probe said that the decision to add appropriate sections of the Official Secret Act (OSA) will be taken as soon as the analysis of documents seized from the arrested persons reveal that they were sensitive and classified in nature.

Investigators and experts from different ministries are still in the process of examining the documents to assess the nature of secret information that was stolen.

Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi on Friday said the five arrested on Thursday did not steal specific documents and would just photocopy anything found on the table. “The seized documents have to be examined in consultation with the specific officials and concerned ministries so that we can know about their security classification. Only then we can say if this falls in purview of Officials Secrets Act,” said Bassi.

On being asked if the case will be transferred to the CBI, a senior Delhi police officer said, “No indication has been given to us so far.”