Four employees of IT firm produced in court

Hyderabad: Four employees of a city-based IT firm, accused of theft of data of voters in Andhra Pradesh, were produced by police Monday before the Telangana High Court following which it closed a petition that alleged they had been detained illegally.

As it was a court holiday on account of Maha Shivaratri, they were produced at the residence of a judge, complying with the court's direction Sunday on the habeas corpus petition filed by the IT company's director, a senior police official said. 

State Advocate General B S Prasad later told reporters that the four employees informed the judge that they were not detained by the police following which the court closed the petition. Habeas corpus petition is filed seeking to produce persons suspected to be under illegal detention. 

On Saturday, the Cyberabad police had registered a case against the company based on a complaint by a data analyst and carried out searches at its office following allegations of stealing data of Andhra Pradesh voters through a mobile app and misusing it.

The case was booked against the firm, which developed the 'Seva Mitra' mobile app used by the ruling Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh (for registered cadre), under relevant sections of IPC and Information Technology Act. The four employees were called by the police for questioning as part of investigation on Saturday.