Apart from these arrests, a senior journalist has been detained in connection with the case. He currently owns an Energy Consulting Firm. The Reliance Group (RIL) has confirmed that one of its employees has been detained and that they are looking into the matter. Employee of another oil company was also reportedly arrested.
Police said a clerk and a peon in the ministry stole the secret papers, photocopied them and handed them over to three private people in exchange for money.
Delhi Police Commissioner B.S. Bassi said those arrested belong to the multi-tasking staff (MTS) of the petroleum ministry. He said they have been booked under charges of stealing, forgery, trespassing and criminal conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
“Two of the arrested people are MTS employees while the other three are former MTS staff. They were involved in this act for a long time. They provided the photocopies of the secret documents to non-government people for reward,” Bassi said.
“The secret papers of the ministry were delivered to some corporate houses to benefit them,” he said. He said the secret documents were stolen from the office of the petroleum ministry situated in Shastri Bhawan — a sprawling building that houses a number of ministries of government of India like petroleum, human resource development, law and justice, and information and broadcasting, among others.
Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan Thursday said strict action will be taken against those involved in stealing secret documents of his ministry. Police had arrested three people Tuesday night but they revealed it to media Thursday after they arrested two more people, who are the government employees.
Police are also trying to find out what kind of information was shared with the private corporate houses. All petroleum companies are on police radar and those which benefitted with these secret documents will shortly be summoned by police, said an official probing the case. (IANS)