Trial for top Reliance executives for illegal possession of government documents

Three top executives of the undivided Reliance group will face trial on charges of possessing classified government documents after the Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed their objections to the criminal proceedings against them.

Two of the executives – V. Balasubramaniam, the then group president, and Shankar Adwal – are now with Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd, while A N Sethuraman is with the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group. All of them face criminal charges under the Official Secrets Act for possession of secret government documents including the minutes of a meeting of the union cabinet.

The three are alleged to have procured the documents in 1998. While the Delhi police initially took up the investigations, the probe was handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) a few months later.

According to the first information report, secret and incriminating documents were recovered from the Delhi office of Balasubramaniam in October 1998. They included photocopies of documents relating to sensitive economic issues, disinvestment proposals and those relating to proposed modifications to the customs and excise duties.

The documents were recovered from the group's office located at a 5-star hotel in Delhi. Later, the CBI also raided half a dozen other places – including the offices and homes of some company executives – in Delhi and Mumbai and seized some  more documents.

The controversial group, founded by Dhirubhai Ambani, has often faced accusations in the past of trying to manipulate government policies for its own benefit. The senior Ambani – his death in 2002 saw the group being split between the two brothers – was known to have enormous political clout.