A power failure that crippled India’s financial capital of Mumbai in Maharashtra state last year could have been a case of cyber sabotage, a local minister said on Monday, as China denied a report that it was behind the outage.
Mumbai Police were investigating further after a preliminary report pointed to possible evidence of 14 “Trojan horse” programmes incorporated in the city’s power system, Anil Deshmukh, a minister in Maharashtra, told a news conference.
Deshmukh was speaking a day after a New York Times report said that the power outage on October 12 last year was part of a Chinese cyber campaign against India, even as the two countries were locked in a fierce border battle.
A Chinese embassy spokesperson denied the allegations in the New York Times report, in response to a request for comment from Reuters.
“Speculation & fabrication have no role to play on the issue of cyber attacks. Highly irresponsible to accuse a particular party with no sufficient evidence around,” a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in India tweeted late on Monday in response to Reuters’ request for comments.
Millions were left without power, trains were stranded and online college exams and mobile telephone services collapsed after a grid failure that affected all of Mumbai and lasted for more than 12 hours in some parts of the city.
At the time, local authorities said the failure was caused due to “technical problems”, but an inquiry was ordered into the incident.
“The preliminary report was handed over to the power ministry. We will investigate it further,” Deshmukh said at Monday’s news conference.
Relations between nuclear-armed neighbours China and India soured last June when 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers were killed in a Himalayan border fight. Recent talks have eased tension.
Words fail as 2,000-pound bombs shred lives and limbs. The sheer number of children killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza…
On Tuesday, May 7, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee alleged that the Election Commission had turned a blind eye…
On 14 August 2023, heavy rainfall in North India triggered flash floods and landslides, devastating the region. Kishori Lal, the…
Protest movements can look very different depending on where you stand, both literally and figuratively. For protesters, demonstrations are usually…
Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), governments, and corporations across 160 countries consider or approve more than one investment per day in…
Print and electronic media are coping admirably with the upheavals being wrought by social media. When 29-year-old YouTuber Dhruv Rathee…
This website uses cookies.