Corporate Espionage: Santanu Saikia, Prayas Jain Arrested

The espionage case in the Petroleum & Natural Gas Ministry, took an interesting turn with the arrest of former senior journalist Santanu Saikia, who runs an Energy Consulting Firm. Prayas Jain, CEO of a Melbourne-based Energy Consulting company Medit, was also arrested, taking the number of arrest to 7 in this case.

Santanu Saikia is considered a big fish in Delhi circle. He was associated with Indian Express and Financial Express at one point time. His wife Sabina Sehgal Saikia, who was the Consulting Editor of Times of India, was killed at Hotel Taj during the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack. Saikia runs the Energy Consulting Firm, Indiapetro.com and another company too.

In addition, officials from Reliance Industries and Essar Group executive are also being questioned. More arrests are likely in this case. The massive crackdown by Petroleum Ministry led by Dharmendra Pradhan, under the blessings of Narendra Modi, has stunned the corporate world and political circle.