New Delhi: A Delhi court on April 5 took cognisance of the CBI complaint against Reliance Industries and three of its top officials including Group president V Balasubramaniam under Official Secrets Act and issued summons to them for April 29.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sangita Dhingra Sehgal summoned Balasubramaniam, Group Vice President A N Sethuraman and Corporate Affairs General Manager Shaker Adawal to appear before the court on April 29, CBI sources said.

The court direction came after a marathon in-camera hearing, which virtually ran the whole day.

The court took cognisance of the complaint filed by the CBI after the agency counsel clarified that it was not time-barred.

CBI had started probe into the matter after Delhi Police recovered four sensitive documents pertaining to internal decisions of the Cabinet from a Reliance office in October 1998 while investigating the Romesh Sharma case, they said.

CBI claimed the secret documents were recovered from a "locked office table drawer" of the Group's office located at a five star hotel in New Delhi, which could help the industrial group in its business.

The agency alleged that the said documents were "crucial to the company's business interest" and they were "used" by them, the sources said.

CBI has charged Reliance and its officials under Sections 5(4) and 5(2) of Official Secrets Act and section 120-B (Criminal Conspiracy) of IPC for allegedly possessing secret Cabinet papers, they said.

PTI