The Centre is mulling a CBI probe into the corporate espionage ring involving IAS officer Ravi Inder Singh, director in the ministry of home affairs who was arrested on Tuesday night after two days of questioning and searches by the special cell of the Delhi police. Singh will be deemed suspended from the MHA 48 hours after his arrest, an MHA official said.
Home ministry sources said that the probe by the special cell of Delhi police into the case is going in the right direction but if “wider ramifications’’ emerge during investigation demanding an inter-state probe, the case may be handed over to the CBI. “No decision has been taken so far but the option of handing over the case to the CBI is being explored,” a senior home ministry official said.
Government sources said that the arrest of a senior functionary of a leading telecom company is likely in the case. The telecom official had tipped off Singh about his phones being tapped by the security agencies thus alerting him to be careful while making calls.
“The telecom official who represents the mobile service provider cannot disclose whether the government agencies are keeping a particular phone under surveillance. The surveillance had been authorised by the government,” the MHA official said. “The telecom official may soon be called for questioning as this is an incident of criminal conspiracy to subvert an ongoing probe into a sensitive matter,” the official said.
Further, the US-based telecom company for whom Singh was allegedly “manipulating file nothings’’ and leaking out sensitive information from the ministry may soon be asked to take action against its officials for their alleged attempts to bribe Indian government officials.
The Delhi police is investigating whether more companies were involved in the case and whether certain officials of the department of telecom were trading information to the arrested Kolkata-based businessman Vineet Kumar, who was allegedly acting as a broker on behalf of Singh.