The UIDAI has lodged a complaint against the co-founder of a mobile payment startup with the Bengaluru Police on Wednesday about the misuse of Aadhaar data from its website.
The Hindu reports that it has a copy of the FIR against Abhinav Srivastava of Qarth Technologies. The complaint was filed by Ashok Lenin the Deputy Director at the UIDAI Regional Office in Bengaluru.
The FIR reportedly accuses Srivastava of giving out e-KYC and misusing data from the Aadhaar site via a mobile application that he created. The FIR says Srivastava entered into “conspiracy with others, misused Aadhaar data and leaked the information.”
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Srivastava has been booked under Section 29(2) of the Aadhaar act which has restrictions on sharing Aadhaar data with others. He has also been charged with Sections 65 and 66 of the IT act and Sections 468 and 471 for forgery with Section 120(B) for conspiracy.
However, the report does mention that there was no clarity if Srivastava hacked into the database or merely used the authentication from a verified agency.
Srivastava denied the charges to the newspaper however, saying that Qarth was a multi-bank mobile payment firm which stopped operations in March last year. “We have never used Aadhaar for kyc. The app is no longer available,” he reportedly said, adding that he was not aware of the FIR against him.
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A co-founder told the newspaper that the company were planning on closing down and had no employees on their rolls.
