The arrest of an Indian Administrative Service officer may run beyond leaking information to one or two particular telecom companies. Police and intelligence agencies are probing the IAS officer's role in a possible case of industrial espionage, sources said.
Ravi Inder Singh, the IAS officer posted with the Ministry of Home Affairs, who was formally placed under arrest by Delhi Police's special cell late on Tuesday night, dealt with multiple security clearances files of various companies. A police source said that Singh dealt with atleast 5,000 files related to telecom, mining, shipping and surface transport industries.
Initially detained over leaking information of government's policy on Blackberry services to corporate houses, the police is now probing whether the 1994 West Bengal cadre officer leaked information to different companies in exchange for money. Though not in a position to actually clear files of different companies, Singh possibly could have leaked information on the ministry's policies on various issues pertaining to the sectors he handled.
Singh's activities went undetected till about a month ago because he had a middleman a friend of his hailing from West Bengal.
This friend, identified only as Vineet, was also placed under arrest by the special cell from a five star hotel in Delhi on Tuesday, allegedly acted as Singh's 'broker', sources said. Vineet, who runs a food processing unit in west Bengal, reportedly met Singh while he was undergoing his training in West Bengal.
"Singh never directly contacted the corporate houses. Instead, he had Vineet set up meetings for him in five star hotels. Singh gave information on how to get security clearances from the MHA to various companies looking to function from India.
"Since he handled telecom, mining, shipping and transportation industries, we are looking into all his activities at the ministry. This could possibly be a case of industrial espionage," a senior police officer of the special cell, involved in the case's investigation told rediff.com.
Police said that Vineet's name cropped up after Singh's mobile phone records indicated they were regularly in touch. In turn, the police scrutinised Vineet's call details, which showed calls made to various corporate houses. He was picked up from Delhi after his call records indicated his presence in the capital.
Intelligence agencies have been tagging Singh for over a month now, sources said. Singh, who officially has just one mobile phone, was found to be carrying four other phones.
"The other phone numbers were not registered in his name. We put all five phones on surveillance before one of the phones ultimately led us to Vineet," the officer said.
Investigations into the case have so far revealed that Vineet had been trying to strike a "deal" worth a several crores with a telecom company for Singh. It was for this reason Vineet had come to the capital, sources added. In addition to Vineet, police are also on the lookout for another 'middleman' who worked for Singh.
Police said that the other four phones were bought on existing identities and it is suspected they were gifted to him by corporate houses.
The MHA and police have categorically denied that Singh compromised national security.
"This is a clear case of violation of conduct rules and possibly a large scale corruption case, which may or may not involve officers from other government departments. But national security has not been compromised," the officer said.
The police produced Singh and Vineet in a city court on Wednesday. The court sent the duo to six days of police custody, officials added.
Singh has been booked under section 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act and 120B of the IPC (criminal conspiracy). Vineet has been arrested for criminal conspiracy.
