Corporate espionage: Five men sent to police custody

New Delhi, March 17 (IANS) A court here on Tuesday sent three government officials and two others to two days police custody for their alleged role in the leakage and sale of confidential government documents.

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Judge S.C. Rajan allowed the probe agency to quiz three government employees -- Ashok Kumar Singh, Lala Ram Sharma and Daljeet Singh -- along with chartered accountant Khemchand Gandhi and Paresh Chimanlal Buddhadev, a partner in private firm Chitale Associates, till March 19.

The five were presented before the court in connection with the leakage and sale of confidential government documents stolen from various ministries.

The CBI sought custody of all the accused, saying they have to be confronted with one another regarding the documents which were seized during investigation.

Daljeet Singh, an upper division clerk in the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP), was arrested from his hideout in the capital on Monday.

The CBI has alleged that Daljeet Singh was allegedly providing the confidential documents to his counterparts in the finance ministry who in turn were giving them away to the Mumbai-based chartered accountant, and later passed to various corporate houses.

The CBI on March 12 filed a case and raided eight places, including offices of various ministries and private establishments, in New Delhi and Mumbai, and arrested the under secretary in the disinvestment and grievances department, Ashok Kumar Singh, along with the section officer of the economic affairs department, Lala Ram Sharma.

Gandhi was arrested from Mumbai during the raid conducted by the CBI.

Investigators said Daljeet Singh used to provide documents of the commerce ministry to Ashok Kumar and Lala Ram Sharma who passed them to Gandhi.

The CBI had on March 13 arrested two more people -- Ram Niwas, an assistant in the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) under the finance ministry, along with Paresh Chimanlal Buddhadev, a partner in private firm Chitale Associates.

The probe agency also revealed the the alleged role of a representative of Price waterhouseCoopers (PwC), a multi-national firm which provides tax and consulting services, and was being probed.

PwC, which has offices in over 150 countries, said in a statement later that its manager met CBI officials and gave necessary clarifications.