Espionage case: Defence Ministry staff sent to police custody, 5 in judicial custody

NEW DELHI: A Defence Ministry staff member, who was arrested for his alleged involvement in the corporate espionage case, was today remanded to one-day police custody by a Delhi court which also sent the five corporate executives to nine-day judicial custody.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Sanjay Khanagwal sent Defence Ministry's house-keeping staff member Virender Kumar to police custody till tomorrow after the crime branch of Delhi Police sought his custodial interrogation to find out about his role in the case.

The crime branch officials told the court that Kumar was arrested yesterday night for allegedly stealing an identity card of an auditor at Indian Defence Accounts Service and providing the same to one of the accused, Lalta Prasad, in the case.

The crime branch officials said that Kumar had stolen the I-card and then forged it to pass it on to Prasad who used it to secure entry in various ministries.

The CMM asked police whether any documents were recovered from Kumar's possession and why his police custody was needed.

To this, the crime branch official said no documents were found but it is yet to be ascertained whether he supplied similar forged I-card to other people or not for which his custody is needed.

Five corporate executives--Shailesh Saxena from RIL, Vinay Kumar from Essar, K K Naik from Cairns India, Subhash Chandra from Jubilant Energy and Rishi Anand from Reliance ADAG-- who were in police custody till today, were sent to judicial custody till March 5 after the crime branch officials said their custody was not required as of now.

The court asked the police if any new recoveries have been made from the five accused, to which the Investigating Officer (IO) replied in negative.