Delhi Police on Saturday claimed that the papers recovered from the five corporate executives arrested in connection with the Petroleum Ministry documents leak case are related to “national security” and charges under the Official Secrets Act, 1923 might be invoked in the matter. The Official Secrets Act is an anti-espionage Act held over from British colonisation, which states that one cannot approach, inspect, or even pass over a prohibited Government site or area. The disclosure of any information that is likely to affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, or friendly relations with foreign States, is punishable under this Act.
The Crime Branch of Delhi Police produced the five accused before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sanjay Khanagwal and sought their custodial interrogation for five days. “National interest was taken for a ride in the case. Documents related to national security have also been recovered. This may attract charges under the Official Secrets Act,” police told the court, which will pass the order on custodial interrogation later.
The police told the court that they have to consult the Ministries concerned regarding the documents, which have been recovered from the possession of the accused and their custodial interrogation was required to confront them with the same. Police are also analysing the importance of these documents and trying to reach its “actual beneficiaries”. The police also told the court that these five accused were procuring these sensitive documents at the behest of their senior officials, some of whom might be interrogated in the ongoing investigation.
Police said these officials used to keep tabs on Ministry trends and demand documents as per their requirements. They were also reportedly keeping a check on deregulation of petrol and coal prices. With the arrest of these five accused, the total number of arrests in the case has gone up to 12. Seven others were produced in the court on Friday out of whom four were sent to police custody till February 23 and three were remanded in judicial custody for two weeks.
On Thursday, five persons, including two Oil Ministry staffers and three middlemen were arrested. Two energy consultants - Santanu Saikia, a former journalist, now running a petro web portal and Prayas Jain — were arrested on Friday morning while the five company executives were arrested in the evening. The police on Friday night arrested Reliance India limited (RIl) corporate affairs manager Shailesh Saxena, Essar’s DGM Vinay Kumar, Cairn India DGM KK Naik, senior executive of Jubilant Energy Subhash Chandra and Reliance ADAG GM Rishi Anand.They have been booked under IPC sections 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property).
The alleged pilfering of ‘incriminating’ documents, which was thought to have been a racket confined to the Petroleum Ministry, reportedly covered matters in Finance, Coal and Power Ministries. The case FIR, produced in a local court on Friday said an input on the National Gas Grid for the Finance Minister’s Budget speech of 2015-16 is among the various “secret” documents recovered from the accused.
Besides, police have also recovered a letter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Principal Secretary Nripendra Misra. “Photocopy of documents with heading input material on National Gas Grid for inclusion in Finance Minister’s budget speech 2015-16,” the Crime Branch has said in its FIR.