Dropping a bombshell, journalist Santanu Saikia, arrested in Petrogate (Corporate espionage case), shouted in pitched voice it’s a Rs 10,000 crore scam. Saikia made the dramatic admission while going out of the Delhi Police Crime Branch office.
“Quote me, I was doing a cover up,” Saikia said. “It’s a Rs 10,000 crore scam,” he said.
Earlier, former newspaper reporter Saikia, detained by the police for interrogation over the leak of government documents, had denied any links to the gang that stole papers from the Petroleum Ministry. He is, however, being extensively quizzed about certain documents found in his possession and his call records, police said.
Police have maintained that they had strong prima facie evidence against him which indicated his connivance with certain elements involved in the nexus. Saikia, his family said, had earlier been accused by the CBI of similar charges. “He won a case against CBI in 2009 over accusations that he had access to sensitive material,” he said.
In the wake of the sensational corporate-espionage case which has rocked the country, Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday said that those involved in the scandal would not be spared and strictest punishment would be meted out to them.
He said the police probe into this case will soon unravel the truth about everything.
Talking to reporters at a function in Delhi, he said, “Jaldi doodh ka doodh, paani ka paani ho jayega (Everything will be clear soon). No guilty person would be spared and strictest punishment would be given to them.”
The Home Minister also did not rule out a nexus between middlemen and government officials in the case. He said, “It is possible. I am not ruling out any possibility. Delhi Police are investigating the whole issue. I think the issue will come to light very soon.”
“But, it is certain that such things have been going on for a long time and that is why the situation has reached such a stage,” he added.
Singh said it is a matter of satisfaction that the espionage case has been unravelled by the NDA government. “If we were not alert, these things would not have come to light,” he said.
“But, it is certain that such things have been going on for a long time and that is why the situation has reached such a stage,” he added.
Singh said it is a matter of satisfaction that the espionage case has been unravelled by the NDA government. “If we were not alert, these things would not have come to light,” he said.
So far, twelve people have been arrested in the case.
