New Delhi: Executives from major companies are being questioned on the leak of classified oil ministry documents to energy consultants and corporates, a spiraling scandal in which seven people including two government officials and a former journalist have been arrested since Thursday.
An executive of Reliance Industries has been detained. A Reliance ADAG official was questioned in his office in Delhi and an Essar executive is also being questioned, police sources say. The police have reportedly raided the offices of a few companies and seized documents and hard drives.
A Reliance Industries official said, "We are unaware of more details. An internal probe is under way as per our robust internal standards." Essar was not available for comment.
Former journalist Santanu Saikia, who runs an oil industry portal, and Prayas Jain, an energy consultant, were arrested today. Five people were arrested and 25 people detained on Thursday.
The men, including the two government employees, allegedly used duplicate keys and forged identity cards to gain access to the oil ministry at night and photocopy documents related to high-value bids and pricing policies. They would then sell them for a price ranging from a few thousands to lakhs.
The two Petroleum Ministry employees were caught stealing confidential documents after the police laid a trap.
The massive crackdown, oil ministry sources said, was aimed at reassuring foreign investors who had grown wary of making presentations in the ministry. Information was being leaked "within minutes of presentations," they said.
"I won't allow espionage in my ministry. Strict action will be taken against those involved," Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan told NDTV.
The investigation into corporate espionage began soon after the BJP-led coalition took power in May, say sources.
A 2014 industry report listed corporate espionage as the ninth biggest threat to companies and said despite the presence of CCTV and tracking software, only 15-20 percent of these cases were detected.