India arrests six over corporate spying on ministry

The arrests follow a major police sting operation to trap those responsible for taking the secret government documents, which police said were sold to private energy companies and consultancies.

The men, who also include two government employees, are alleged to have used duplicate keys and forged identity cards to gain access to the ministry at night and photocopy documents related to high-value bids and pricing policies.

“On the basis of preliminary investigations, we can say these documents had been obtained by independent energy consultants… and certain companies working in the field of energy,” Delhi police chief Bhim Sain Bassi told reporters.

Police did not name the companies involved, but Reliance Industries, one of India’s biggest business conglomerates, said one of its officials had been detained in connection with the case.

“The matter is under investigation… and we are determined to cooperate in every possible manner,” a Reliance official told AFP, requesting anonymity.

Reliance, controlled by the country’s wealthiest man Mukesh Ambani, derives most of its earnings from its massive energy operations.

The journalist, who ran an oil industry portal, was arrested late Thursday after a lengthy interrogation, a police source said told AFP, without giving further details.

Corporate espionage is a major problem in India. A report from the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry listed it as the ninth biggest threat to local companies in its 2014 survey.

The report also said that despite the presence of CCTV and tracking software, only 15-20 percent of corporate espionage cases are detected.

Another industry report in 2012 said more than one in three companies were involved in “some form of espionage to gain an advantage over their competitors”.-AFP