Hyderabad, May 20: A computer hard disk was stolen from Raj Bhavan, the official residence of the Telangana Governor here. The theft occurred on May 14, and the next day, police arrested a hardware engineer working in Raj Bhavan on an outsourcing basis.
However, the incident came to light on Tuesday. A hard disk was stolen from room number 104 of the administration block, Sudarma building in Raj Bhavan. The theft came to light on May 15 when the networking engineer came to the office and observed that the computer system in the room was glowing with a blue screen.
On examination, he found the computer was showing a different account, and the hard disk was replaced with another hard disk. The officials scanned the CCTV footage and found that T. Srinivas came to the office wearing a helmet at 10.11 p.m. on May 14, though it was not a working hour.
Srinivas allegedly committed the theft after he was suspended the same day on certain allegations. On a complaint by the IT Manager, police registered a case under sections 305 (A), 316 (5) and 331 of BNS. The police arrested accused Srinivas, a computer hardware engineer working in Raj Bhavan outsourcing basis.
The police recovered a hard disk from his possession. Since the accused knew the security arrangements, he wore a helmet while entering the computer room to commit the theft. The police were investigating the motive behind the crime whether anyone else was involved.
According to the complaint, the hard disk contained confidential data of licensed software, office files, office network user IDs and passwords and information technology-related inspection reports of the office. The theft in the high-security official residence of the Governor has caused a stir.
Officials have further tightened security following the incident. The Raj Bhavan premises are already under strict surveillance with the deployment of security personnel and the installation of several CCTV cameras. Additional security measures have been taken in the wake of the incident. This is believed to be the first such incident in Raj Bhavan.
IANS