Delhi Police Crime Branch on Monday claimed to have busted another module and lodged a second FIR in the corporate espionage case. The Crime Branch arrested lokesh Sharma (33), a consultant belonging to a renowned energy consultancy firm and also detained seven staff members of Ministry of Power at Shram Shakti Bhavan and Ministry of Coal at Shastri Bhavan, who were allegedly providing photocopies of classified documents to him.
Police said Sharma used to procure the secret documents and sell them to five other energy firms, including the organisations owned by Santanu Saikia and Prayas Jain, who were arrested earlier.
Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi said during investigation the Crime Branch learnt that lokesh Sharma was allegedly involved in sourcing classified documents from the Power and Coal Ministries.
“A second FIR has been registered and we are trying to arrest his accomplices,” Bassi added.
Bassi also said it was a separate case and had no links with the Petroleum Ministry espionage case, though it belonged to the same class.
A case under Section 457 (trespass), 380 (theft), 465 (forgery), 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code has been registered. A city court has sent Sharma to five days’ police custody.
In the first case of corporate espionage that shook the nation, 12 people, including two Petroleum Ministry employees and three middlemen, were arrested for selling secret documents after procuring them from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas at Shastri Bhavan.
Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ravindra Yadav said: “This module had been operating for many years unlike the previous one, which was fairly new to the game and had been involved in this activity for just over two years.”
Yadav said: “Sharma, an employee of Noida-based energy consultancy firm Infraline Energy, used to source documents from the Ministries of Coal, Power and Petroleum with the help of the staff posted in these Ministries.” Sharma was arrested from Dwarka. Two forged identity cards of the Ministries of Coal and Power and copies of various official classified documents have been recovered.
Infraline Energy was founded by Yogesh Garg in 2001, who died while trying to photograph the first flight of his new two-seater aircraft at Meerut airstrip in May 2012.
The probe into Garg’s death by Uttar Pradesh Police has remained inconclusive. The company, which witnessed massive developments from 2006 on, is now run by Garg’s wife Shashi Garg. It has its headquarters in the prime Barakhamba Road area and has a multi-storied corporate office in Noida.
Police said the company also publishes a magazine which relates to information regarding power and coal. It has around 65 employees.
Meanwhile, police took Sharma to various rooms located on the fourth and seventh floors of Shastri Bhawan. They also picked up seven staff members of Petrol, Coal and Power Ministries who were allegedly providing photocopies of secret documents of the Ministries.
Yadav also said besides utilizing the documents for his own consultancy firm, Sharma used to sell them to other energy consultants as well.
“The amount which he (Sharma) used to get for selling the documents is yet to be ascertained,” Yaday told The Pioneer.
Two recipients, Santanu Saikia of Indian Petro Group and Prayas Jain of Metis Energy Solutions have already been arrested while raids were continuing on other receivers of stolen document, he further added.
Sources told The Pioneer that Sharma’s father worked in a Ministry as a driver which gave him easy access into the Ministry as the staff knew him well.