Earlier today Delhi Police arrested former journalist Santanu Saikia in connection with the probe into the alleged leak of petroleum ministry documents to corporates.
Saikia has been a journalist for close to 3 decades, working at publications such as The Economic Times, Indian Express, Financial Express and Business India.
He currently runs three portals related to the energy sector – www.indianpetro.com www.energylineindia.com and www.indianfertilizer.com.
Saikia is a Masters in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics.
His profile on an e-learning website that he started - www.eleixirlearning.com - calls him “…an intrepid traveler and bibliophile, he loves interacting with people and gets turned-on (sic) by innovative ventures.”
Marie Brenner from Vanity Fair magazine noted Santanu “has the courtly air of the world of the tea plantations of Assam, where he grew up, the son of a literary critic.”
The magazine interviewed him as the husband of 26/11 Mumbai attack victim Sabina Sehgal Saikia, well known journalist and best-selling food writer.
This is not the first time Saikia had a brush with the law. In 2009, a Delhi court discharged him in a case the CBI had registered against Saikia in 1999. He was charged under the Official Secrets Act 1923 for publishing the contents of a Cabinet note on divestment policy.
Before getting arrested, Santanu was questioned on Thursday night after those arrested earlier in connection to the ‘PetroLeaks’ case, allegedly revealed his role in the matter.
The Hindu quotes sources saying Saikia had masterminded the whole conspiracy and acted as a buffer between the companies who wanted access to the documents and the men who stole them from the Ministry.
According to The Indian Express report, Saikia would allegedly “process” the documents and prepare notes before passing them on to big, listed petroleum and energy companies.
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