Friday 21 June 2013

Japanese firm, employee ordered to pay Rs 60 lakh compensation

A special court under the Information Technology (IT) has directed a Japanese company dealing in engineering products and one of it's Indian employees to pay a compensation of Rs 60 lakh to a city based marketing firm for hacking into its network and stealing confidential information, which resulted in financial loss for it.
 
The order was passed by Rajesh Agarwal, secretary (Information Technology), government of Maharashtra, Mumbai on June 18, against Endo Kogyo India Pvt Ltd and its manager  Ashish Kalmegh (39) of Katraj.

Mahesh Rokade (40), owner of Arihan Technologies Pvt Ltd, had lodged a complaint against them with Hadapsar police station.  Kalmegh was arrested in March 2012.

According to police, Arhan Technologies Private Limited (ATPL) is an industrial, engineering products marketing and sales company with technical expertise to market Japanese technological products in India. Endo Kogyo Company Limited (Japan) is one of their clients.

Kalmegh was employed in Arihan Technologies since 2004. In May 2010, Kalmegh was appointed to handle marketing of the products of Endo Kogyo and was sent to Japan for a 10 day training course. After returning, he submitted resignation on July 12, 2011. He did not deposit his pen drive containing confidential information about the company and also misused his official email ID.


Rokade found that Endo Kogyo India Pvt Ltd, a Japanese firm, opened its office at Lulla Nagar in June 2011, and that Kalmegh worked there as manager. “Kalmegh had hacked into our system. He kept a tab on our all incoming-outgoing emails. He used the data for the advantage of Endo Kogyo, which also engaged in supply of engineering products,” Rokade told the police.

Police inspector SP Pandharkar investigated the case with assistance from cyber crime  expert Sandip Gadiya and pegged the loss at Rs 60 lakh. ATPL had sought a compensation of Rs 1.2 crore.

The adjudicating officer has directed Endo Kogyo Private Limited to pay Rs 40 lakh and Kalmegh to pay Rs 20 lakh to the complainant within a month of the order.

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