VIJAYAWADA: A day after the ruling TDP lodged a complaint with the police alleging theft of data pertaining to the party by the Telangana police and the YSR Congress as part of a conspiracy, the Andhra Pradesh government has constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the matter.
The nine-member SIT will be headed by N Bala Subramanyam, an Additional Director General of Police rank officer, who is presently Commissioner of Transport Department. The team comprises IPS officers and senior police officers with experience in dealing with cyber crime.
ALSO READ: TDP complaint against Telangana cops, YSRC netas
TDP State president K Kala Venkata Rao complained to the Guntur rural police on Wednesday night alleging that some senior police officials of Telangana and YSRC leaders conspired to steal the data of Telugu Desam, which the party had collected and compiled over a period of two decades, with an intention to cripple the party activities and intimidate the cadre to enhance the prospects of YSRC in the ensuing polls.
Thullur police register case based on TDP complaint against YSRC, TS cops
In the complaint, Kala Venkata Rao alleged that a conspiracy was hatched to delete the names of voters from the electoral rolls, which was evident with the filing of several applications from the same IP addresses. Based on the complaint, Thullur police registered a case on Thursday under various sections, including 120-B (conspiracy), 418, 420, 380, 409, 167, 177, 182 read with 511 of IPC.
As the investigation of alleged data theft has interstate ramifications and requires technical expertise, AR Anuradha, Principal Secretary, Home, issued orders constituting the SIT to investigate the case registered by the Thullur police.
The Cyber Crime Police Stations of CID in Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam will extend their assistance to the SIT in the probe into alleged data theft. Further, the head of SIT can urge the Director General of Police for additional assistance and logistic support, if needed. After conducting an investigation into the alleged data theft, the SIT will submit its report to the court.
Spl Investigation Team
N Bala Subramanyam, Commissioner of Transport Dept
P Hari Kumar, Director, Prohibition and Excise
PHD Ramakrishna, SP (SIB)
SV Rajasekhara Babu, Guntur Rural SP
D Mary Prasanthi, SP, CID
U Rama Mohan Rao, Additional SP of Forensic Science Laboratories
P Anil Kumar, DSP
N Nagamalleswar Rao, Inspector, Cyber Crimes (CID)
SK Raheemullah, SI,
Cyber Crimes (CID)
TDP portals shut down after SIT launches investigation
Just hours after Inspector General of Police (IGP) Stephen Ravindra, in-charge of the Special Investigation Team (SIT), began looking into cases registered against IT Girds India Private Limited, websites operated by the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and its affiliate bodies were found to have been shut down. Official portals and websites of the party have been shut down in both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Telugudesam.ord, the party’s official portal, was most notably not working. Even online transactions, such as donations to the party, have been put on hold by the party’s IT wing.
Data transferred after raids
The controversy surrounding the data breach refused to die down. Sources told Express that senior officials working in the IT department of Andhra Pradesh violated the rules by transferring official and government data after the raids happened in Hyderabad. Stephen Ravindra confirmed that IT Grid India Private Limited and Blue Frog have transferred important data from servers and that at least three servers went missing after the raids that were conducted on IT Grid’s Madhapur office.
Ashok’s nexus
SIT officials have ascertained that Ashok Dakavaram, the CEO of IT Grids, was in nexus with a key person who was instrumental in the former’s firm getting sensitive government data. It is also learnt that Dakavaram had participated as a guest in several meetings in Amaravati, the capital of AP, with senior officials in the IT wing.