Pune Civic Body Data Breach Property Tax Records Hard Disk

A major data security breach has come to light at the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) after a hard disk containing the sensitive property tax records of lakhs of Pune residents was stolen from the civic body’s highly restricted server room and sold.

Although the theft occurred on the evening of May 25, the PMC administration remained unaware of the security breach for 15 days. Following an internal inquiry and a comprehensive review of CCTV footage, investigators identified a maintenance worker deployed by an external contractor as the prime suspect. Upon interrogation, the worker confessed to formatting the storage device and selling it for personal financial gain.

The hard disk was successfully recovered last week, prompting the PMC to formally table the matter during a general body meeting. Civic officials confirmed that technical teams are currently attempting data recovery operations, and a criminal complaint was formally lodged against the contract engineer at the Shivajinagar police station on Monday evening.

An official said, “The stolen device was one of three hard disks on which scanned property tax documents are stored. The data is routinely used to resolve tax disputes and fulfil requests for hard copies of records. The server room from which it was stolen has restricted access.”

The theft has drawn sharp criticism from civic activist Dinesh Bhilare, Pune district president of the Patit Pavan Sanghatana, who has demanded a thorough inquiry by the PMC commissioner and public disclosure of all facts surrounding the incident. A formal representation to this effect has been submitted to the PMC chief, Naval Kishore Ram.

Bhilare has demanded transparency on several counts: the nature of the data stored on the stolen hard disk, the cybersecurity protocols in place at the PMC, actions taken under the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, and details of disciplinary action initiated against the errant contractor and the officials responsible for oversight.

“The PMC holds data on the properties of lakhs of citizens, birth and death records, tax-related information, and personal details linked to various civic services. This incident, therefore, is not simply a case of a stolen hard disk – it is a matter of citizens’ right to privacy, the security of digital data, and public trust in civic institutions,” Bhilare said.