Document leak case: 11 duplicate keys recovered

Investigation into the alleged pilfering of confidential oil ministry documents revealed that Lalta Prasad, already arrested in the case, was the masterminding the entire racket.

Investigation into the alleged pilfering of confidential oil ministry documents revealed that Lalta Prasad, already arrested in the case, was the masterminding the entire racket.

Police learnt that Prasad was working on “payroll” for executives of the four corporate houses who were arrested on Friday and simultaneously for middleman like Santanu Saikia and Prayas Jain.

A key ring containing 11 duplicate keys was recovered by the crime branch officials when they arrested Prasad and his associates Rakesh Kumar and Raj Kumar Choubey with stolen classified documents on Tuesday. Interrogation further revealed that they had entered the offices of petroleum ministry using duplicate keys of the lock.

“We are now looking for the keysmith who made duplicate keys for him in bulk,” said a senior police officer.

“We have questioned security officials at Shastri Bhawan who were on duty when the accused entered the building. They told us that since Rakesh and Prasad were frequent visitors, they never checked their entry passes or the identity cards,” the officer added.

Meanwhile, interrogation of arrested executives of the corporate houses revealed that Shailesh Saxena, corporate affairs manager of Reliance India Limited, was more active in allegedly procuring stolen documents from Prasad.