Cyberabad police look out for D Ashok, key suspect of data theft case
Hyderabad: Four teams of the Cyberabad police are on the lookout for Mr D. Ashok, director of IT Grids India Pvt Ltd, the key person involved in the alleged case of data theft, including Aadhaar numbers, of the people of AP.
The police is also considering issuing a lookout circular against Mr Ashok to prevent him from fleeing the country. His last location was traced to Amaravati.
After the Telangana High Court closed Mr Ashok’s habeas corpus petition, the Cyberabad police on Monday said that they have found preliminary evidence that data pertaining to the people of Andhra Pradesh, was in possession of IT Grids Pvt Ltd, which has been already booked for criminal intimidation and data breach case.
The data that has been leaked should have been in the possession of the state government of AP alone. But it has been provided to members of the Telugu Desam party through the Seva Mitra mobile application, developed by IT Grids India.
“Only the state government is entitled to have the data, but it is with private persons and can be used to do anything illegal. We are finding out from where exactly the data reached the accused company. If the government is involved in this, it will be booked. Nobody will be spared in this case, even if it is politicians,” said Cyberabad Police Commissioner V C Sajjanar.
Responding to a query on allegations made by TD leaders that TS cops booked a case illegally and are harassing IT Grids employees, the commissioner said: “We will not leave anybody if they try to make false allegations against the police. The investigators have sufficient evidence to prove that the offence has taken place and the data of AP citizens is with the said company. On the complaints of Election Commission of India, about 45 to 50 cases were registered in various places in AP about the deletion of voters.”
He said that four police teams are working on the case and are searching for Mr Ashok, who failed to turn up for questioning on Sunday. Mr Ashok’s last known location was traced to Amaravati.
“The time given to him has already lapsed. Notices under Section 41 of CrPC have been served against him and we appeal to him to surrender before the police and provide the information needed for the investigation. If he has MOUs signed with the AP state government with regards to possession of data, he could have produced it before the investigators, but he did not," the commissioner said.
The Cyberabad police are trying to get the passport details of Mr Ashok to prevent him fleeing the country. Police also say he has taken three hard disks containing data pertinent to the investigation.
"Even if he deletes that data, we can acquire it back and proceed with the investigation," Commissioner Sajjanar told the media at his office on Monday.
Another case has been registered against IT Grids director D. Ashok at SR Nagar police station. It is based on a complaint from one Dasaratharami Reddy, a YSR Congress member.
