Explained | What is the IT Grids case and how it turned into a slugfest between AP, Telangana govts

(KT Rama Rao image: Facebook/@KTRTRS)

An ongoing probe into a data breach allegation is turning into a slugfest between the two states – Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

The governments of both the states are levelling accusations on each other over the theft of data associated with voters from Andhra Pradesh ahead of the crucial general elections.

The state of Andhra Pradesh is also heading towards Assembly polls along with general elections in the coming weeks.

The issue

The issue stemmed from a complaint was filed by data analyst T Lokeshwar Reddy on March 2 against Hyderabad-based IT Grids India which developed the ‘Seva Mitra’ app for the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) led by Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu.

The complainant accused company officials of allegedly stealing the data of about 3.5 crore Andhra Pradesh voters, who are the beneficiaries of various government welfare schemes. The complaint added that the TDP cadre was using the app for collecting data of voters and "advancing their party's electoral prospects".

Legal action

>Based on Reddy’s complaint, a case was registered by Telangana's Cyberabad Metropolitan Police against the firm on March 2, under relevant sections of the IPC and the IT Act, and searches were conducted at its office.

> The police called four employees for questioning as part of the investigation.

>As the employees were called by the police, the company's director D Ashok moved the court and filed a habeas corpus petition, alleging that the four had been missing and were under illegal custody of the police.

>A team from Andhra Pradesh's police also arrived in Hyderabad on March 3 to conduct the investigations. There was mild tension when the team reached Lokeshwar Reddy's residence in Kukatpally.

>On March 4, the employees were produced by the Cyberabad police before the Telangana High Court, where they informed the judge that they were not detained by the cops following which the court closed the petition.

>The investigation was carried on after the court order, a police official told news agency PTI, adding that further action would be initiated based on sufficient evidence.

Politics

The case has now embroiled into a political storm with the governments of the two states accusing each other over the data theft.

After the investigation began, TDP leaders alleged that the case against IT Grids was a conspiracy by the Telangana government and the YSR Congress to carry out false propaganda ahead of the elections.

The YSR Congress, however, accused TDP of trying to misuse citizen data. It alleged that the chief minister Chandrababu Naidu had sent a police team to Hyderabad to protect the perpetrators of the data breach.

The ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) also jumped into the war of words. Party's working president KT Rama Rao tweeted:

By obstructing Telangana police and filing false petitions in courts, AP CM @ncbn is only indirectly confirming his role in leaking personal information of crores of AP citizens to a private organisation. He needs to answer people of Andhra Pradesh

— KTR (@KTRTRS) March 5, 2019

Latest developments

>The Telangana police has issued notices to Amazon Web Services and Google Play as they were also said to have stored the database in their respective servers. “Notices have been sent to them for production of the database relating to the app," Cyberabad Police Commissioner VC Sajjanar told news agency PTI.

>Four teams have also been formed to secure D Ashok as he "failed" to appear for investigation despite summons and was suspected to have fled to Andhra Pradesh, said Commissioner Sajjanar.

>The police is now in the process of writing to the AP government, UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India), the Election Commission, and the Registrar of Companies for more details in this regard.

(With inputs from PTI)