New Delhi, Feb 23 (IANS): A Delhi court Monday sent former journalist Santanu Saikia and three others to judicial custody till March 6 in the petroleum ministry documents leak case.

Saikia, who runs a web portal and has been a crime reporter for several years, was sent to 11-day judicial custody along with Prayas Jain, a Melbourne-based energy consultant, and Rakesh Kumar and Lalta Prasad -- both brothers and residents of Delhi.

All the accused were produced in the Patiala House court before Metropolitan Magistrate Dheeraj Mittal in connection with their alleged role in providing secret documents of the petroleum ministry to corporate houses.

All the arrested have been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) relating to theft, forgery, trespass and criminal conspiracy in leaking the documents.

During the hearing the four accused told the court that they were forced to sign around five blank papers by the police during their custodial interrogation.

Meanwhile, the court allowed Prasad's counsel's plea seeking a direction to the jail authorities for conducting the medical check-up of his client's ear as he is not able to hear properly.