Oil min espionage: Here's what led to the NSA crackdown on ministries

Frequent reporting of classified documents in the media is what actually triggered the massive crackdown on espionage in various ministries and resulted in the Delhi police arresting 12 people on suspicion of running a scam to steal documents from the oil ministry to sell to energy consultants and private companies. According to a Times of India report, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval had asked RAW to initiate action soon after a TV channel report said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was shown images of INS Arihant, a nuclear submarine, at a DRDO function. “The NSA is learnt to have written to the cabinet secretary, Ajit Kumar Seth, sometime in mid-October, saying such reports based on classified information undermined national security and were an offence under the Official Secrets Act. Doval also pointed out that most leaks came from government offices and there was a need to follow official protocol related to classified information,” the Times of India report said. In fact an Economic Times report said that Doval held a meeting with several cabinet ministers way back in December 2014 to caution them against the leakage of sensitive documents  and had also warned them about the nexus between the journalists, corporate middlemen and government officials since even the letter written to Ajit Kumar Seth  had been  leaked to the media. A plan to stem the leaks was set in motion somewhere after that December meeting. During the course of the four-month probe into various ministries not only was security beefed up but several fake documents were made to look like important papers to narrow down suspects. Once the agency had enough evidence, Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi was roped in to launch the crackdown, the report added. [caption id=“attachment_2097371” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Delhi police commissioner BS Bassi. PTI[/caption] The country’s  teeming ministries - which typically conduct business from handheld files and binders tied with string instead of computers - have faced accusations that documents have been copied and leaked ahead of major sales or tenders, or policies affecting companies, which is why perhaps Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration installed closed-circuit cameras late last year to stop people sneaking out of the oil ministry with documents. The arrests were the first since the cameras were installed. However, in the latest case even the CCTV cameras were disabled to a good extent. Asharam, who is the peon in the office of Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, “switched off the CCTV cameras” in the ministry office while his son Ishwar Singh who was also  employed in the multi-tasking staff in the ministry. On Thursday, the Delhi police said that they received information that people were trespassing in ministry offices at night, using false identity cards, temporary passes and duplicate keys for offices and while producing the accused in a Delhi court, police said recoveries suggested that papers related to Coal and Power ministries too had been leaked. Police sources also said that corporate executives who have been arrested  were recipients of official documents that were allegedly leaked from the Petroleum Ministry. “Investigations further revealed that the stolen documents were being sold to some individual of private energy consultancy companies,” as well as in the petrochemical or energy industry, police said in a statement. Sources in the police further said that the  ministry was first alerted about the theft of official documents some months ago when some critical documents with the then Joint Secretary (Exploration) Giridhar Armane, were found in a photocopier machine when rooms were opened in the morning. The ministry internally probed the issue. The door of Director Prashant S Lokhande was found compromised about two months back following which the ministry ordered a through investigation and CCTV cameras were installed.Asharam, while being taken to the court, said, “I am innocent” and blamed his sons for the whole thing. As crime branch officials whisked him away, he said, “I came to know of this on February 17. I have not done anything. Mera beta zimvewar hai (my son is responsible).” Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said he wants the guilty to be brought to book and would comment only after the investigation is complete. “Let the investigation be over. No one will be spared,” he said. Even Home Minister Ranath Singh said that the government is not ruling out internal foul play and said that no person will be spared. “No guilty person would be spared and strictest punishment would be given to them,” Rajnath Singh said this morning. Meanwhile, the locks of all the rooms which were accessed by the accused are now being changed and security and vigilance enhanced. As Firstpost reporter Debobrat Ghose reported earlier,  incidences of espionage have actually come down due to transparency and electronic office system in place. “Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has directed to do away with paper, and instead use kindles for noting and documentation, so as not to leave paper trails and prevent information from leaking,” the report said. “Unlike in the past, now, there is more transparency in government dealings due to e-tendering, e-auctioning, and information is put on official websites. These kinds of espionage and stealing of documents was more prevalent some 10-15 years back due to control regime,”   a senior bureaucrat had told Firstpost . With inputs from Agencies