A suspect was arrested on Sunday in a case of corporate espionage for allegedly joining a pan-India lounge aggregator and then leaking sensitive internal information to a rival firm that helped them win a global tender for business expansion.
The suspect, who is from Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, joined the Gurugram-based firm in March 2017 and was trained at the aggregator’s office in Sector 65, according to the police.
The suspect was in charge of the firm’s Mumbai office, according to the police. In September 2021, the company competed in a multi-billion dollar global tender organised by a multinational corporation, but lost to a competitor.
The suspect resigned in March 2022 because his father was suffering from serious illnesses and needed to relocate to Dubai for treatment, said the police.
Investigators were told the firm’s top management also received calls from a person identifying himself as the suspect’s father, requesting that his son be released as soon as possible so that he can travel for timely treatment.
The aggregator’s senior officials learned in July 2022 that the suspect had joined the rival firm that won the bid, prompting them to launch an internal investigation.
The firm’s technical experts scanned the laptop that they gave to the suspect for official use. Experts say he gained access to almost all sensitive internal data, including the tender, which he supplied to the rival group and helped them win the bid.
The police say the suspect was arrested on December 28 at Sector 65 police station under Section 66B of the Information Technology Act, Section 120B (criminal conspiracy), Section 406 (criminal breach of trust), Section 408 (criminal breach of trust by clerk or servant), and Section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code.
Inspector Sudhir Kumar, station house officer (SHO), Sector 65 police station, stated that an investigation has been launched and that appropriate action will be taken as soon as possible.
