Hard disk stolen from Raj Bhavan in Hyderabad; IT staffer arrested

Hyderabad: An IT assistant at Telangana Raj Bhavan, T. Srinivas, was arrested on May 15 for allegedly stealing a hard disk from the high-security premises. This marks his second arrest within a week. Srinivas, 45, who worked in the IT hardware department, was first arrested on May 12 after a female colleague filed a complaint alleging that her personal photographs had been morphed and shared in an obscene manner. He was released on bail and subsequently suspended from duty.

Following his suspension, the Raj Bhavan IT Manager filed a fresh complaint on May 14, alleging that Srinivas had removed a hard disk from the computer he had used. The device, which reportedly contained the morphed images, was later recovered. Srinivas was arrested again on May 15 and remanded to judicial custody.

In response to media reports suggesting a security breach and theft of sensitive documents, Hyderabad City Police issued a statement on May 20 denying any such incident. ACP Punjagutta, S. Mohan Kumar, described the reports as "baseless and false," and clarified that the matter was one of internal misconduct. He confirmed that no official or sensitive data had been compromised. The investigation is ongoing.