Indian police said a dozen people have been arrested as they probe more oil company employees in a case involving the alleged sale of files stolen from India’s Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
Seven more people were detained on Friday following five arrests on Tuesday when New Delhi police detected the theft of the papers, New Delhi police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said. Officials from Reliance Industries Ltd, Essar Group, Cairn India Ltd, Jubilant Energy NV and Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group Ltd were among those detained on Friday, the police said.
Officers laid a trap for the men arrested on Tuesday, who they said had faked identification cards, copied keys and disabled closed circuit TV cameras to take files from the ministry. Some of them are current or former employees at Shastri Bhawan buildings — which also houses government departments including the ministry.
“Stolen documents were sold at various prices,” police officer Sunil Kumar said on Friday in New Delhi.
Reliance Industries is the operator of the world’s biggest oil refining complex. Its shares slumped 3.2 percent at the close in Mumbai on Friday.
The company is locked in a dispute with the government over extraction levels from natural gas deposits off India’s east coast.
Mumbai-based Reliance Industries spokesman Tushar Pania said “as of now we don’t have any statement” when contacted by telephone on Saturday. Essar spokesman Manish Kedia said the company could not confirm anything.
Cairn India spokesman Arun Arora said he needed to check on the matter. An operator who picked up a phone call to Jubilant Energy said to call back on Monday.
“We’re not aware of the circumstances in which one of our junior employees has allegedly been arrested,” Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group spokesman Daljeet Singh said. “We’ll ensure full cooperation with the investigative agencies. The company adheres to the highest standards of corporate governance, and does not support any unlawful practices.”
Two energy consultants are also among those arrested, Delhi Police Commissioner B.S. Bassi said on Friday. Officers have also found files leaked from the India’s Ministry of Coal and Ministry of Power.
A car with an unauthorized sign declaring that the vehicle belonged to the government of India was seized after the Tuesday police operation. Officers raided a “few corporate houses,” the Times of India newspaper reported on Thursday, without saying where it got the information.
Petroleum and Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Friday said his ministry is helping the police. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi swept to power in May last year partly on a vow to clean up government after past scandals over the allocation of mobile phone airwaves and coal mining rights.
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