Sensitive data 'theft'; TDP demands case be transferred to AP

: The Telugu Desam Party Monday demanded that the case relating to the alleged theft of sensitive data of Andhra Pradesh government be transferred to the state from Telangana forthwith as per the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code.

As the alleged theft happened in Andhra Pradesh, the case should be transferred to the state as per the CrPC, TDP politburo member Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy and general secretary Varla Ramaiah told a press conference here.

Lashing out at Cyberabad Police Commissioner V C Sajjanar for disclosing details of the investigation into the case, the TDP leaders claimed that Telangana state has no jurisdiction over the case.

"Even the Telangana High Court pointed out to this," they said.

The TDP leaders maintained there was nothing confidential about the data that was stored by IT Grid company in Hyderabad as "everything is available in the public domain".

"Details of beneficiaries of government schemes, the voters' list...everything is available online. So where is the question of stealing the data? they asked.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu alleged that the opposition YSR Congress, in collusion with the Telangana Rashtra Samiti government, was foisting cases against the TDP only out of frustration.

"Is this the return gift that (Telangana Chief Minister) K Chandrasekhar Rao promised to give me? It is atrocious to steal our data and give it to our rivals," Chandrababu said, in a teleconference with his party leaders.

The data was a result of '24 years of hard work' and was the TDP's property, he said.

"This data was not compiled in a day. It is a product of 24 years of our hard work. It is the TDP's property, the property of 70 lakh party workers. No government has the right to steal it," Chandrababu added.

The Chief Minister alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and KCR were helping (YSRC president) Jaganmohan Reddy in executing this 'cyber conspiracy'.

"The Bihari gang led by (political strategist and JD(U) leader) Prashant Kishore is giving such evil advise to the YSRC.

It is out of fear of losing the ensuing elections in the state that the Bihari gang is resorting to such wicked acts," the TDP chief lashed out.

The YSRC, however, questioned how confidential data related to the state government went into private hands.

"Why is Chandrababu so scared of the investigation? The data theft is part of a plan to remove names of those against the government from the electors list.

The TDP leaders are selling critical government data to private parties," YSRC leader and Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee Buggana Rajendranath Reddy alleged.

"This case is similar to the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal. A high-level inquiry by all agencies concerned, including the Election Commission of India, should be conducted into the data harvesting and theft," Reddy demanded.