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Source code theft: techie’s laptop seized

Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD: The first ever case of source code theft reported in Hyderabad was cracked by police on Thursday with the arrest of a software engineer K.S. Venkata Ravi Kumar.

A laptop containing several software products, including the three he had allegedly stolen from Tecra Systems he earlier worked with, was seized from him. Proposals and quotes of the company being sent to its clients, confidential documents and billing details were also found in the laptop, Hyderabad Detective Department DCP R.S. Praveen Kumar told reporters.

Kumar did his MCA and took up his first job as IT professional in Tecra Systems which had offices in Hyderabad, and Michigan in the U.S. He was sent to work in the company’s U.S. office in 2005.

By virtue of his seniority, Kumar had access to the company’s administrator software and servers. Taking advantage of this, he copied the company’s source code of three products on his laptop in 2007. Later, he quit and joined iNEK Technologies which also has offices in Hyderabad and the U.S.

Tecra Systems management grew suspicious when they found Kumar trying to sell similar products with slight modifications to other clients. They approached police who registered cases under provisions of Information Technology Act. Police found that the software products, inpresso, iBidLogik and immobile, being offered for sale by Kumar were replicas of Tecra company’s products.

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