Kochi, February 27 Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala accused the Chief Minister's Office on Friday of leaking the personal details of over one crore people in Kerala, including lakhs of women registered under the Stree Suraksha scheme, to a private agency for election-related purposes.
This latest allegation by the senior Congress leader comes two days after he claimed that the officer on special duty (OSD) in the CMO had sought personal details of government employees and pensioners to send messages about the state government's achievements.
Speaking to reporters here on Friday, Chennithala termed this as a "serious instance of data theft" where the personal details of the general public, including women under the Stree Suraksha scheme, government employees, and officials, have allegedly been leaked to a private organisation "without taking any precautionary measures."
"This was done for election purposes," he alleged.
He further contended that the same OSD in the CMO had issued a letter on February 7 seeking personal details of the women under the scheme.
"Such a thing has never happened in the history of the state. It is a serious breach of data protection," the Congress leader contended.
He further said that such details reaching the hands of the Chief Minister was tantamount to it being available to the CPI(M) as there is no difference between the government and the party.
Chennithala claimed that a private organisation, based in Mumbai, was reportedly given the personal details because the government was unable to handle such a large amount of data.
"A comprehensive investigation is required as the leakage of such details could lead to cybercrimes. The government is creating a situation where cyber frauds could occur," he claimed.
On Wednesday, Chennithala had termed the collection of personal details of government employees, officials, and pensioners as a "huge political controversy" and a "major breach of data privacy".