Two arrested for TNEB hard disk theft, 34 devices recovered

Chennai: Two men have been arrested so far in connection with the sensational theft of hard disks from the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) headquarters and a total of 34 hard disks have been recovered from them, police said on Friday. The arrests and recoveries come two days after the TOI expose on the theft of disks related to ongoing investigation, coal purchase, transformer purchases, taxation, GST and material management section details. Though the thefts happened mid-May, it came to light only two days ago.On Friday, police said the arrested persons revealed that they stole the hard disks from the 10-storey building, erased the stored data and sold the digital devices in Bengaluru.The arrested men were identified as Gopinath, 31, of Valarpuram near Arakonam in Ranipet district, and Murali Manohar, 33, of Bengaluru. Investigators identified Gopinath as the facilitator who removed the hard disks from the TNEB headquarters and Murali Manohar as the receiver who purchased them.According to police, Gopinath stole 34 hard disks from the TNEB headquarters on May 16 and 17. He then stored the devices at his residence, where he formatted them and deleted the data before transporting them to Bengaluru. Police said the hard disks, each valued at ₹20,000, were sold for ₹2,500 apiece.The theft came to light on May 18 when TNEB staff noticed that the hard disks were missing and informed system engineers and maintenance officials. The matter was subsequently referred to the vigilance wing of the electricity board for inquiry.Additional directorgeneral of police Ayush Mani Tiwari, who heads the TNEB Vigilance Unit, conducted a preliminary inquiry before lodging a formal complaint with Chintadripet police.Based on the complaint, police registered a case under Section 305 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and launched an investigation. A special team led by Triplicane deputy commissioner of police V Jayachandran tracked the suspects and apprehended Gopinath and Murali Manohar from locations in Arakonam and Bengaluru.Police seized Gopinath’s laptop and pen drives for forensic examination. Investigators said Murali Manohar purchased the stolen hard disks from Gopinath and were examining his role in the disposal of the devices.Investigators are also examining the possible involvement of persons linked to procurement and tender-related activities connected to the electricity board. Police have collected details of contractors and others associated with purchases made by TNEB and are scrutinising their communications with the accused.Cyber experts assisting the investigation said govt data is generally stored in secured data centres connected through the National Informatics Centre infrastructure. Investigators are assessing whether any information can be retrieved through digital forensic analysis and whether any sensitive data was compromised.Police are considering transferring the case to the Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) as the investigation has extended beyond Tamil Nadu and involves suspects from multiple locations.Meanwhile, Gopinath was produced before the XIV metropolitan magistrate court in Egmore and was remanded in judicial custody. Murali Manohar was also taken into custody. Further investigation is on.