UIDAI files case against Ola arm Qarth alleging ID theft

Ride-hailing service Ola finds itself in trouble as a complaint has been lodged against its subsidiary Qarth Technologies for Aadhaar data theft from the website of the Unique Identification Authority of India.

Qarth is a Bengaluru-based private company that offers multi-bank payment service which Ola acquired last year.

Ashok Lenin (deputy director, UIDAI regional office Bengaluru) filed the complaint with the High Grounds police station in Bengaluru on 26 July under Sections 37 and 38 of Aadhaar Act. The case was later transferred to the Cyber Crime investigation cell of Bengaluru police, reports today said.

A case was also registered under Sections 65 and 66 of the Information Technology Act and sections 120B, 468 and 271 of the Indian Penal Code.

Ola has denied the allegation and clarified that it was not involved in any kind of data theft and that it did not have any knowledge of the FIR.

Lenin in his complaint against Ola said, "Qarth workers have developed an app and accessed details on Aadhaar website without authentication and provided the same as e-KYC details. The data theft started on January 1 and went on until July 26."

He went on to say that the accused has joined hands with miscreants in leaking the Aadhaar information and illegally using the same, according to reports in Moneycontrol and elsewhere. The High Grounds police have also invoked Section 38 against the company for accessing the Central Identities Data Repository (CIDR) without authorisation.

Under this section, perpetrators are punishable with imprisonment up to three years along with a capital penalty of Rs10 lakh.