New Delhi — Police on Monday arrested one more person accused of leaking classified government documents to energy companies in a scandal that sent shockwaves through several government departments and threatened to have far-reaching impact. The Police Commissioner of Delhi said the latest arrest was in connection with a module that allegedly leaked confidential documents from the coal and power ministries.
The Crime Branch registered a separate FIR under sections that covered trespass, theft, criminal conspiracy and fraud in this case as this module operated separately from the one involved in the petroleum ministry racket in which 12 people have been arrested so far.
National interest was taken for a ride in the Petroleum Ministry documents leak case: Delhi Police tells court.
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) February 21, 2015
The man arrested in this new module has been identified as Lokesh, who worked for a consultancy firm in Noida on the outskirts of New Delhi.
At least six persons were picked up for questioning from Shastri Bhavan in this connection by the Crime Branch and more arrests are likely soon. Search and raids were continuing in Delhi and NCR in this connection.
Police Commissioner B S Bassi said police came to know that Lokesh was allegedly involved in recovering documents from the Ministry of Coal as well as the Ministry of Power.
"So we have registered a case and we are making further efforts to arrest his accomplices. We have registered a second FIR," he said.
When asked about the way the module operated and who all benefited from it, Bassi said since the FIR was registered only yesterday, the police would be able to give details only after arresting Lokesh's associates.
Questioned about the need for filing a separate FIR, Bassi said, "It is a second module. It is separate and has no linkages with that particular case though it belonged to the same class. Since it lacked linkages, we have arrested him under a separate FIR."
Lokesh will be produced in a local court here this afternoon and police will seek his custody for interrogation.
Cracking down on a suspected case of corporate espionage, Delhi Police on Thursday last arrested two junior Oil Ministry officials and three other middlemen for allegedly leaking classified government documents to energy companies.
On Friday, two energy consultants Santanu Saikia and Prayas Jain and five senior executives from top energy firms identified as Shailesh Saxena from RIL, Vinay Kumar from Essar, KK Naik from Cairns, Subhash Chandra from Jubilant Energy and Rishi Anand from ADAG Reliance were arrested.
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