IT engineer enters Mantralaya before work hours, accesses revenue department’s PCs

When contacted, Amol Yedge, Director, IT, Maharashtra government, informed that the person’s services were terminated following the incident. The police also took him to the Marine Drive police station for questioning but he was later released.

Following the revenue department’s complaint, the IT department’s engineers also screened the computers to check if some sensitive data had been stolen. “Prima facie, there is no data or equipment theft,” said Yedge.

Being the custodian of state-owned lands, the revenue department maintains crucial files related to land records. According to information, a revenue department clerk, who had arrived in office around 8 am, noticed the breach and raised a stink about it. When confronted on how he had managed to sneak into the department and accessed computers, the engineer, in question, was evasive. After the peon began calling his seniors, he apparently ran away.

The police later picked him up from the IT department’s office on the fifth floor. According to a senior official, the IT department normally deploys an engineer from the facility management unit after a specific equipment related complaint is raised. “But in this case, no such complaint was raised,” said a senior official.

Yedge confirmed that this was a “breach of set guidelines”. This is why we initiated action against him, he added. Questions were also being raised on how a non-Mantralaya staffer was permitted to enter in the premises before office hours. “Over 20 computers were switched on before the breach was reported. He must have entered the premises around 7 am,” a revenue department official said.