OSA case: Court for prosecution of Reliance and three officials

A Delhi court has allowed criminal prosecution of the Reliance Industries Ltd and its three senior officials for illegally possessing secret documents pertaining to cabinet meetings on economic matters.

The order was passed, 14 years after the FIR was lodged in 1998 when the RIL Group was not split between between Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani.

Additional Sessions Judge Narinder Kumar said a prima facie case was made out against RIL, its then group president V Balasubramanian, vice-president AN Sethuraman, and general manager (corporate affairs) Shankar Adawal under the Official Secrets Act.

"Prima facie case for an offence under Section 5(2) punishable under Section 5(4) (wrongful communication) read with Section 15 of Official Secrets Act is made out against Company accused No.4 (Reliance Industries Limited)," the judge said.

"Prima facie there is material on record to infer agreement and criminal conspiracy between Balasubramanian, Sethuraman and Adawal from the manner in which the information has been received and communicated.

"Since prima facie case is made out against them, they have to face trial for an offence punishable under Section 120 B IPC (criminal conspiracy) read with Section 5(2) punishable under Section 5(4) of Official Secrets Act," he ordered.

However, the court did not find evidence against Ambani brothers, who were also not named as accused in the case.

The case relates to recovery of four secret documents pertaining to government policies on subjects of interest to Reliance Industries Ltd from the company's office here.