Kerala police seek data from Meta on fake ID use in Youth Congress election
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The police team probing the alleged use of forged election ID cards in the Youth Congress (YC) state election has contacted Meta (previously Facebook) to obtain “sensitive details” about the case. The officials are tight-lipped about the details they sought from the tech giant but said, “The information could play a crucial role in cracking the case.”
Meanwhile, cyber sleuths have collected the database of the website which was used for election purposes. The website was hosted on a cloud platform from the United States and an extensive repository of about seven lakh individuals was recovered.
The data will be subjected to analysis to know how many voters’ ID cards were fabricated and then uploaded to the website.
Thiruvananthapuram city police deputy commissioner Nidhinraj P, who is heading the probe team, said they are yet to ascertain the extent of fraud and the investigators can reach a conclusion on that only after verifying the large volume of data accessed from the server.
Nidhinraj said that there have been apprehensions that certain genuine photo-editing apps were misused to generate fake IDs. “There are doubts that several popular apps such as Snapseed were misused. We are checking that aspect.”
Earlier, it was suspected that the ID cards were fabricated using an app called CR Card. The investigation has so far revealed that it’s a standalone app, which does not rely on outside servers for data storage.
The police have decided to continue with raids in various places in the state in connection with the probe. The objective behind the raids is to consolidate electronic evidence before moving to further steps, including arrests.
Highly-placed sources said the arrests would be made once the investigators garner incriminating evidence against those involved in the offence.
3 YC WORKERS IN CUSTODY
T’Puram: The special police team probing the complaint of fabricated voters ID card being used for the Youth Congress election has taken three workers of the outfit into custody. Those detained are Abhi Vikram, Feny, and Binil Binu- all hailing from Adoor. This is the first time the cops have taken into custody Youth Congress workers in connection with the case.
The police had conducted raids at their houses on Monday. During the raids, electronic gadgets, including mobile phones and computers, were seized. The police said they found fabricated voters ID cards from the devices. “We had impounded their electronic devices which were subjected to examination. After finding the bogus ID cards in them, we tracked them and took them into custody,” said a senior official.