4 employees booked for duping IT company of Rs 7 lakh business

PUNE: The Kothrud police on Saturday registered an offence against four employees of a software solutions company located on Paud Road for stealing its client database and causing it a loss of business to the tune of about Rs7 lakh.
The suspects, including a woman, held different posts with the company. They have been booked under sections 408 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating) and 107 (abetment of a thing) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Information and Technology Act.

The police took this action based on a complaint filed by a senior manager of the company.

Inspector Shankar Khatke said that the suspects worked in the company in various positions — business developer, senior manager and managers — in the accounts department. “While working with the company, the suspects had (surreptitiously) started their own company last October,” Khatke said.

Khatke said the suspects started to computers and other facilities in the complainant’s company, to build their own business. “The complainant also alleged that, between October and December last year, the suspects diverted many clients to their (newly-founded) company,” Khatke said.

The complainant alleged that the quantum of business lost to this siphoning of clients amounted to Rs7 lakh. “The complainant also discovered that the suspects had also stolen their client database and used it for build their own company’s profile,” Khatke said.

According to Khatke, after the fraud perpetrated by the suspects came to light, the complainant carried out an internal investigation. “After establishing their guilt, he came to us and lodged a complaint,” Khatke said, adding, “We have yet to make arrests in this case. Our probe is on.”

The IT Act came into force on October 17, 2000. It is the primary law in the country to deal with cybercrime and electronic commerce. It is based on the United Nations Model Law on Electronic Commerce 1996 (UNCITRAL Model) recommended by the General Assembly of United Nations by a resolution dated January 30, 1997.