Police lay trap, catch five red-handed

 Five persons have been arrested for allegedly stealing confidential government documents from the offices of Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry in central Delhi’s Shastri Bhawan.

According to Delhi Police Commissioner Bhim Sain Bassi, there was information that two persons along with their associates were stealing documents by trespassing into the offices. “Investigations revealed that the stolen documents were being sold to some individuals of private energy consultancy companies as well as to those in the petrochemical and energy industry,” Bassi said. Police had specific information that the gang was planning to strike again late on Tuesday. A trap was laid and the police team noticed three men approaching Shastri Bhawan in a Tata Indigo car. Two persons alighted and went inside, while the third man remained seated in the car. The two men returned after two hours.

“The three men were apprehended when they assembled in the car. Official documents were recovered from their possession,” Bassi added. They were identified as Lalta Prasad (36) Rakesh Kumar (30) and Raj Kumar Chaubey (39).

After sustained interrogation,police learnt that Lalta and Rakesh were brothers and were earlier temporarily employed as multi-tasking staff at Shastri Bhawan. They left the job in 2012. During their stint at Shastri Bhawan, they realised that they could easily lay hand on the official documents.

“Lalta and Rakesh disclosed that they were assisted by their father Asharam and another man named Ishwar Singh, both multi-tasking staff employees at Shastri Bhawan,” said Joint Commissioner of Delhi Police (Crime) Ravindra Yadav. On the basis of their statement, Asharam, 58, and Ishwar, 56, were also arrested.

The classified information was allegedly shared with corporate houses and had details of policies used for pricing as well as imports, police said on Thursday.

A case under sections 457 (lurking house-trespass), 380 (theft), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code have been filed with crime branch police station.