Probe on after 2 crore Punjab Aadhaar details found on hard disks

Naveen Garewal
Tribune News Service
Hyderabad, April 19

Data theft is being probed after the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Telangana Police found over two crore Aadhaar data belonging to Punjab following the recovery of hard disks from the IT Grids (India).

This is in addition to the records of 7.82 crore Aadhaar data from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

Officials are surprised at the large data from Punjab being stored by the company.

Investigating agencies say the motive will be clear only after the CEO of the company is questioned.

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), however, refuted the reports claiming breach of its servers in the data leak case.

This came after the IT Grid (India) was accused of obtaining 7.82 crore personal details of Aadhaar holders in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

In a statement, UIDAI on Wednesday had said that its servers were secure and safe. “Mere possession and storage of Aadhaar numbers of people, though maybe an offence under the Aadhar Act under some circumstances, does not put the Aadhaar holder under any harm in any manner whatsoever because for assessing any Adhaar-based services, biometrics or one time password (OTP) is also required,” the UIDAI said.

UIDAI has filed a complaint on the basis of the FIR lodged by the SIT of Telangana Police to investigate the purpose for which such large data of Aadhaar holders was stored by the IT Grid (India).

Telangana Police have indicated that the data theft might be linked to the voters in the two states. 

A senior SIT member said the exact purpose would be known only after questioning IT Grid CEO Dakavaram Ashok.

The SIT has recovered 60 hard disks, pen drives, memory cards, etc, of which 40 hard disks have so far been examined. More information is expected in the coming days.