The case of the missing files: Corporates knew everything, says crime branch

Hundreds of highly classified documents with signatures of senior officials which were either leaked or copied did not even reach the Prime Minister’s table, a Times of India report said today, quoting crime branch officials investigating the leak at the oil ministry. This report in The Times of India said that policy decisions, meeting details and audit reports were leaked to interested parties. Crime branch officials said those who leaked the information knew everything that the government was planning or was deciding on doing. A few important policy papers did not even make it to the Parliament. “There are hundreds of documents in front of us which are highly classified and have signatures of senior officers — under-secretaries, joint secretaries, secretaries and even ministers or committees formed by Parliament. It seems private companies knew everything about these proposals, right from daily communications of the government and meeting details to legal papers and even audit reports,” Times of India reported, quoting a source in the crime branch. [caption id=“attachment_2116531” align=“alignleft” width=“380” class=" “] Representational image. AFP[/caption] Last Thursday, two oil ministry officials, one journalist and a CEO were among the seven arrested for allegedly leaking confidential government documents to certain independent consultants and energy companies in what could be a case of corporate espionage. So far, the crime branch has arrested 12 people in connection with the case. Shailesh Saxena, manager (corporate affairs) Reliance Industries Limited; Vinay Kumar, DGM at Essar; K K Naik, Cairns India GM; senior Jubilant Energy executive Subhash Chandra and Rishi Anand, DGM, Reliance ADAG, are still being questioned by officials of crime branch, PTI reported. Seven others were produced in the court yesterday out of whom four were sent to police custody till February 23 and three were remanded to judicial custody for two weeks, the report further added. Brothers Rakesh Kumar and Lalta Prasad, and the driver of a vehicle Raj Kumar Chaubey were arrested on 17 February. The two brothers were part of the multi-tasking staff (MTS) at the ministry but had stopped working there after 2012. One of the others arrested is their father, Asharam, and Ishwar Singh, who are accused of aiding them in stealing the sensitive documents. Both of them are members of the multi-tasking staff that works in the ministry. A former journalist, Santanu Saikia is accused of purchasing the stolen documents. The journalist was also accused of accessing sensitive documents by the CBI in 2009, but was acquitted, according to a Times of India report. According to the police complaint, the stolen documents included inputs for the Union Budget 2015 and a letter concerning the Prime Minister’s Office. The documents were also related to the power and coal ministries. The FIR details how the “secret papers” were photocopied after office hours by the arrested persons, who used duplicate keys to open offices after entering Shastri Bhawan with the help of forged identity cards and temporary passes obtained fraudulently. According to a Times of India report, the leaked documents were regarding policy matters and included minutes of meetings, official messages and proposals. The documents would reportedly be sold at a price ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 but could cost more depending on whether the document was classified or not, this report in The Indian Express said. Quoting Delhi Police chief BS Bassi, IE report further said that ““Confidential documents were leaked to certain independent consultants and energy companies, some of whom are being interrogated.” According to a PTI report,  an important document was found lying on a photocopier machine one morning about eight months ago in the Ministry, soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi assumed office. Suspicion grew when the door of a director’s room was found to be compromised resulting in the launch of a thorough probe to catch those transporting ‘secret’ documents out of the Ministry, culminating into what is now being talked about as a major crackdown on a suspected ‘corporate espionage’ ring which has sparked a dozen arrests already. However, according to this report in Firstpost, repeated reports in the media is what prompted the crackdown on espionage in various ministries and resulted in the Delhi police arresting 12 people. This Times of India article reported that National Security Advisor Ajit Doval told RAW to initiate action after a TV channel reported that the Prime Minister 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. Experts also told PTI  that a “callous approach” and a tendency to “unnecessarily” label documents as “secret or classified” is at the root of espionage scandals. Speaking to PTI, former cabinet secretary T S R Subramanian said, “There have been government instructions on dealing with sensitive and classified information. There are standard operating procedures, too. In this incident, it seems someone at some level has been callous.” Even installing CCTV cameras was of no use because the cameras were disabled. As the Delhi Police arrested people involved in the leak, the locks of all the rooms which were accessed by the accused were changed. In the aftermath of the case , the government is planning to install CCTV cameras in all ministries. Ministries of Home, Defence, Finance, Power, Telecom, Coal, Environment and Petroleum, will get new CCTVs installed according to this Economic Times report.The report also said that a ban will be imposed on entry into the ministry offices after office hours and only those with authorisation from superior officers will be allowed inside.