NEW DELHI: More skeletons are tumbling out of the closets of the Ministries under the scanner of the Delhi Police, which is probing the biggest corporate espionage case of recent times.
The investigators tracking the trails of espionage modules arrested a lower level contractual employee of the Defence Audit on Tuesday alleging that he logistically helped other arrested accused in procuring classified documents from various ministries.
The accused identified as Virender Singh, 31, a resident of Uttam Nagar, has been working with the Director General of Audit, defence services in the national capital as a casual worker since 2010. Singh was hired from private agency Bharat Vikas Group.
“He had provided the forged identity card used by main accused Lalta Prasad,” said Joint Commissioner of Police Ravindra Yadav. The officer also said Singh had provided Prasad blank official letterheads for preparing forged letters, which were used to project that their vehicle number DL13C-4734 was hired to perform official duties of the Director of Audit Defence Services.
He also said that through the letterhead a contract was signed with Dharam Singh Travel Agency by the Office of the Director General of Audit, Defence Services, L-II Block, Brassey Avenue, New Delhi to this effect.
Singh was remanded in one-day police custody by a Delhi court, which also sent the five corporate executives to nine-day judicial custody. The Delhi Police sought Singh’s custodial interrogation to probe his role in the case.
Five corporate executives -- Shailesh Saxena from RIL, Vinay Kumar from Essar, K K Naik from Cairns India, Subhash Chanda from Jubilant Energy and Rishi Anand from Reliance ADAG -- who were in police custody till Tuesday were remanded in judicial custody till March 5 after Crime Branch officials said their custody was not required as of now.
Following Singh’s arrest, security in the south block was tightened and every visitor including the officials of the Defence Ministry were subjected to intense security checks.
Defence security corps, which handles the security of all defence establishments, were instructed to check the belongings of every employee of the Ministry, including senior rank officials.
Security personnel at the South Block ensured that nobody was allowed to carry unauthorized mobile phones in the Ministry.