Pune: The Pimpri Chinchwad cyber police on Tuesday registered a case of cheating against three former officials of a private company in Khed taluka for allegedly stealing the company’s confidential data and selling it to a rival company.The company’s chief human resources officer lodged a complaint against the former general manager, former quality control manager and former sales and marketing head with the Pimpri Chinchwad cyber police.They have been charged under Sections 316 (criminal breach of trust) and 318 (cheating) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), along with relevant provisions of the Information Technology Act.An officer from the Pimpri Chinchwad cyber police said the complainant’s firm provides heat-treatment services for automotive parts. The suspects had worked with the firm for over five years and had access to its confidential data. They left the firm one after another between April and June last year. They, however, returned their laptops before leaving.“When company officials examined the laptops, they found that important data was missing. They became suspicious after discovering that all three had joined a rival company,” the officer said.He said the complainant subsequently conducted a forensic analysis of the three laptops, which revealed that data pertaining to at least 155 customers had been transferred to other devices and later deleted.“It was also found that several of the complainant company’s customers had shifted their business to the rival company, where the three had joined,” the officer said.The complainant alleged that the company lost at least 50% of its business following the data theft. The company will conduct a financial audit to assess the extent of the losses. “Our investigation is on,” the officer said.
