Karnataka HC refuses to quash FIR against engineer accused of uploading defence secrets on dark web

The high court has refused to quash proceedings against an engineer who allegedly uploaded defence secrets, including source code, pertaining to the design of Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) into the dark web.

The petitioner Siva Rama Krishna Chennubonia, a resident of Guntur in Andhra Pradesh, was appointed as an intern in a project in the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru.

The project was titled ‘Drag Reduction by heat transfer through convection’ and it was in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the IISc. Working as an intern, the petitioner claimed to have undergone a thorough training and project work at HAL, ARDC in its design complex.

The petitioner had applied for the post of Senior Technical Officer Grade-III National AeroSpace Laboratories and an interview was scheduled to be held on March 23, 2022. |

However, he was arrested four days prior to the interview in a crime registered in 2021 for offences punishable under Sections 66, 66(F), 84(C) of the Information Technology Act and IPC section 380.

H Shanti Bhushan, Deputy Solicitor General of India, contended that as an intern in the IISc, the petitioner had access to the entire source code and had published the same for sale on the Dark Web.

It was submitted that the petitioner had compromised with the security of the nation and that it took about 18 months for the department to ascertain the involvement of the petitioner. The petitioner had argued that there was a gross delay in registering the case and also that he had done nothing that would bring him into the web of crime.

“Dark web is a sophisticated anonymous internet network used by both criminals and other individuals for manifold reasons, necessity to regulate the usage of dark web has become the need of the hour, as it provides anonymity, as the geo location is hidden.

Such usage of the dark web for defence secrets to be uploaded has a devastating effect on national security. The occurrence of massive data theft and auction on the dark web has been a worrisome concern to all the nations, including ours.

Therefore, it is necessary to investigate into the root of the data thieving, uploading it on the dark web, for illegal financial gains and bring to book, persons involved in such acts of uploading sensitive data of defence of the nation, on to the dark web and deal them with iron hands,” Justice M Nagaprasanna said, while rejecting the petition.