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Coal and Petroleum Ministry documents leak: Defence Ministry staff held in corporate espionage case

A casual worker in the Defence Ministry has been arrested for allegedly providing forged identity card to a key accused in Petroleum Ministry leaks case but Delhi Police says it has not come across loss of documents from Defence Ministry. With the arrest of Defence Ministry staffer Virendra Kumar (33), thirteen people have been so far arrested in the corporate espionage case related to Petroleum Ministry.

One person was arrested yesterday on the charge of leaking confidential documents from Coal and Power ministries. Seven persons who were detained for questioning yesterday were called for examination again today which continued till late evening.

They were identified as Lalbabu, Ranjeet Mahto, both of them from Coal Ministry, while Bhupendra, Amit, Kamal Kishor, Virendra and Surendra are from Petroleum Ministry. Meanwhile, raids continued across Delhi and NCR by the police.

Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi told reporters that police has so far not come across any evidence that senior officials of any ministry were involved.

He also said that investigators have so far only come across “leakage and theft of documents from Petroleum, Power and Coal Ministry and not from any other department”.

“Investigation so far has revealed that the people who used to procure government documents used to rely on the employees who are the lowest on the ladder. They used to tell them that this person is the target and bring all the documents you find in his office.

“They used to identify the document of their choice from the bunch. So far we have not come across the name of any senior officer and neither have we had any evidence relying on which we can say so,” said Bassi.

Asked whether police will question senior officials of the security agencies responsible for safekeeping of the government buildings which house these ministries as how can CCTV cameras be shut down for the period of theft and those monitoring it did not come to know, Bassi said, “We have no reason so far to suspect them or question them.”

Police said Virender Kumar, working as a casual worker with Ministry of Defence, L-Block since 2010, had provided the forged Identity card used by the main accused Lalta Prasad. Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ravindra Yadav said Kumar had also provided Prasad blank official letterheads for preparing forged letters which were used to project that their vehicle No DL13C-4734 was hired to perform official duties of Director of Audit Defence Services.

It was also to project that a contract was signed with M/s Dharam Singh Travel Agency by Office of the Director General of Audit, Defence Services, L-II Block, Brassey Avenue, New Delhi to this effect, he said.

It was Ram Kumar Chaubey who had prepared the fake permission of his vehicle and projected it as being hired by Government of India, he said.
However, he added, “no sensitive document has been stolen from the Defence Ministry”.

Lalta Parsad and Ram Kumar Chaubey were first to be arrested in the case when the Crime Branch blew the lid on February 19. Virendra Kumar was arrested today in connection with the first FIR registered by Delhi Police. This module stole documents from the petroleum ministry.

Police had yesterday arrested one man Lokesh Sharma and registered a second FIR as this was a different module which operated in power and coal ministry. He was produced before a local court here today which sent him to one-day police custody.

source: http://www.india.com