IITian arrested in Aadhaar data leak case
Bengaluru: A 31-year-old IIT alumnus has been arrested for developing a mobile app that provides unauthorised access to Aadhaar data.
Police said Abhinav Srivastav, prime accused in the data leak case, was a resident of Yeshwantpur. He hails from Kanpur and graduated from IIT, Kharagpur.
On July 26, after the leak came to light, the UIDAI complained to the High Grounds police. The case was transferred to the cyber crime police on July 29.
The culpability of two UIDAI insiders — an authentication user agency and a KYC user agency — has not been established, a policeman told DH.
AUAs authorise access to biometric details such as fingerprints and iris scans, and KUAs provide demographic details such as name, date of birth, address and contact numbers.
Hospital gateway
Investigations revealed that Aadhaar data was accessed through the ‘e-Hospital’ application on the National Informatics Centre’s server. The centre enjoys access to UIDAI data as it is an AUA. NIC’s e-Hospital is an open-source health information management system. It is designed to manage multiple hospitals seamlessly.
Investigators said Srivastav had designed and developed the app, called Aadhaar e-KYC Verification, and showcased it on Google Play Store for download and use by the public. Users could access Aadhaar-related information hosted by NIC, police said.
Abhinav Srivastav developed the mobile app Aadhaar e-KYC Verification in January this year. It was something he did on his own, moonlighting after his day job with Ola Cabs.
By the time the leak came to light, the app had been downloaded by about 50,000 mobile users, and he had earned Rs 40,000 from advertisements. Srivastav worked as a software developer for Ola Cabs in Koramangala.
His salary was Rs 42 lakh a year, police said. An MSc in industrial chemistry from IIT Kharagpur, he has developed five other mobile apps, all under investigation now.
Police have seized a CPU, four laptops, a tab, four mobile phones, six pen drives and other material worth Rs. 2.25 lakh from him. He was produced before a magistrate on August 1. Police are interrogating him in custody.
