Widening its probe into the corporate espionage case, the CBI on Monday summoned a senior executive of Reliance Industries ltd (RIl) for questioning over his alleged links with chartered accountant Khemchand Gandhi, the mastermind behind leakage and sale of sensitive Government documents relating to foreign investment policies.
CBI sources said the RIl executive has been summoned for questioning on Wednesday as his links with Gandhi, who is in CBI custody, have emerged during the questioning of five accused persons. However, late on Monday PTI reported that RIl spokesperson denied any such notice. "No RIl staff has received such a summon. Your information has no basis and is denied," said the spokesperson.
When asked if the corporate group was the beneficiary of the leaked documents, a CBI official said all these aspects are under probe. Agency sources also said Rajendra Chitale, a partner of the law firm Chitale & Associates that is under the CBI scanner, has also been summoned for questioning. Another partner of Chitale, Paresh Chiman lal Budhadev had been brought to Delhi from Mumbai on a transit remand.
Meanwhile, the agency on Monday also arrested a named accused in the FIR, Dalbeer Singh, an upper division clerk in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) under the Commerce Ministry. Singh allegedly leaked /sold the confidential documents relating to DIPP to his counterpart in Ministry of Finance, Ram Niwas who in turn passed on such documents to Gandhi in lieu of bribe. With Singh’s arrest, the number of those nabbed in the case has reached six.
The probe so far has revealed that that foreign auditing firm whose executive had been questioned in the case, allegedly sought inputs from the syndicate relating to leakage of classified documents relating to firms which not even its clients. Such inputs could have been harmful to other companies and was apparently a ploy to rope in potential clients, the sources said. The company was also allegedly seeking Government policy documents for the benefit of its clients. The agency will produce arrested accused before a designated court on Tuesday for extension of the police remand.