The documents that were in the possession of five corporate employees, who were arrested on Friday night for their alleged connection to a case of espionage, were of importance to national security, Delhi police told the court on Saturday. Police also said in court that the Official Secrets Act may be invoked in the matter.
The documents that were in the possession of five corporate employees, who were arrested on Friday night for their alleged connection to a case of espionage, were of importance to national security, Delhi police told the court on Saturday. Police also said in court that the Official Secrets Act may be invoked in the matter.
Shailesh Saxena, manager of corporate affairs of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), Rishi Anand, DGM of ADAG, Vinay Kumar, GM of Essar, KK Naik, GM of Cairns India and Subhash Chandra, senior executive of Jubilant Energy were produced in the court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sanjay Khanagwal and were remanded to three day police custody.
"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 said in court.
Journalist Santanu Saikia denied having any connections to the people who stole "secret" papers. Saikia, while coming out of the Delhi Police crime branch office said: "Quote me, I was doing a cover up. It is a Rs 10,000 crore scam." Siakia also maintained that the documents were not "sensitive" or "secret" in nature and can be accessed by anyone.
Delhi police on Saturday told the court that they would be consulting 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. They said that these five accused were procuring sensitive documents at the behest of their senior officials, some of whom might be interrogated in the ongoing investigation.
Earlier in the day, the Delhi Police Crime Branch also raided offices of Jubilant Energy in Noida and energy consultant Prayas Jain who was arrested on Thursday. Police had first taken Subhas Chandra, who was arrested on Friday night, to Jain's office and then raises Jubilant's office.
"We may raid several other offices but the names of the companies cannot be disclosed at this stage," said BS Bassi, commissioner of police.
Meanwhile, retired officials of the ministry and government oil and gas companies say that the whole episode of corporate espionage is an effort by Narendra Modi for image make-over.
"The National Gas Grid project is a huge investment. This drama was staged to show Modi as honest, just and impartial man. Now, if budget brings sops for the corporate giants, there would be less "hangama" and in all this, Santanu Saikia was made a scapegoat. No matter what or how he was, he was getting inside information. With a single sweep, Modi govt plugged the hole, and had his image makeover," said a retired senior official of Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) on condition of anonymity.
Interestingly, when Delhi police is arresting RIL official, Reliance appointed Maheshwar Sahu, a former Gujarat IAS officer and Modi loyalist who handled Vibrant Gujarat, as their independent director.
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