The Special Investigation Team probing into the data theft case involving IT Grids (India) Private Limited reportedly has sent teams to Guntur, Bengaluru and other places in search of the firm’s managing director Ashok Dakavaram, after learning that the data relating to other States was also accessed by it.
According to police sources, the forensic team had told the investigators that it found ‘confidential’ data pertaining to individuals of other States, apart from the details of 7.82 crore Telugu people. Telangana State Forensic Science Laboratory examined over 40 hard drives seized by the police from the premises of IT Grids office in Ayyappa Society at Madhapur and submitted a preliminary report to the nine- member SIT led by IG (North zone) Stephen Ravindra.
The firm, which is facing data theft charges, had developed Telugu Desam Party’s Seva Mitra mobile app. It integrated the same digital data of Voter IDs, Aadhaar and details of beneficiaries of various State government schemes in the app used by the party cadre for advancing electoral prospects.
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“Findings by the TSFSL mentioned that the firm was in possession of a large quantity of digital data not only pertaining to voters in the Telugu States, but also individuals of other southern States and a few States in North India,” the investigators said, adding that the firm had ‘directly’ obtained Aadhaar data either from Central Identified Data Repository (CIDR) or from State Government-destroyed State Resident Data Hubs (SRDH). Those findings are based on the preliminary reports by TSFSL. Now they are thoroughly examining each and every device, which contains large quantity of data and it requires extensive analysis and it’s a time taking process, the officer said.
If it is proved that ‘sensitive’ data was obtained from CIDR or SRDH, the Andhra Pradesh government will also be made accused in the case for using the data for wrongful gain, the officer said seeking anonymity. “It is a clear contravention of Aadhaar Act,” they said.
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The investigators maintained that they failed to arrest Mr. Ashok as “he is given special protection by the bigwigs in Andhra Pradesh”. The police are also planning to quiz a few bureaucrats and politicians from AP.