Defence Ministry Employee sent to Judicial Custody

A court in New Delhi on Wednesday remanded to judicial custody till March 8 a defence ministry staffer in the case relating to the leak of the petroleum ministry. Virender Kumar, a casual worker in the defence ministry, who was arrested here Tuesday for his alleged involvement in the leak of documents from the petroleum and other ministries was sent to judicial custody till March 5.

He was presented before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sanjay Khanagwal after expiry of a day’s police custody. Police told court that he is not required for further interrogation.

RIL corporate affairs manager Shailesh Saxena, Jubilant Energy senior executive Subash Chandra, Reliance ADAG deputy general manager Rishi Anand, Essar DGM Vinay and Cairns India general manager K.K. Naik were remanded to judicial custody Tuesday.

Lalta Prasad, 36, and Rakesh Kumar, 30 – both brothers and residents of Delhi — along with Rajkumar Chaubey, 39, a resident of Ghaziabad, were arrested Feb 17 night, the day the documents leak issue from the petroleum ministry was unearthed.

All the three, along with government employees Asharam, 58 and Ishwar Singh, 56, are also in judicial custody.

Former journalist Santanu Saikia, who runs a web portal and covered the crime beat for several years, was remanded to judicial custody along with Prayas Jain, a Melbourne-based energy consultant were remanded to judicial custody till March 6 by a court here Monday.

Delhi Police have registered two FIRs in connection with the leak of classified documents related to different ministries, including coal, petroleum and natural gas, and power — the first Feb 17 and second Feb 20. (IANS)