Rhea Pillai’s iMac was hacked into, says vendor

Mumbai: A Bandra magistrate court on Thursday recorded the witness statement of the vendor who supplied an iMac computer to Rhea Pillai in 2009.

The recording of statement was prompted after Ms Pillai had filed an application under section 156 (3) of the Indian Penal Code in 2015, seeking an investigation into complaints against Leander Paes and some other persons, who had allegedly broken into her room and hacked her computer in her absence in March 2014. 

The witness stated that after the alleged hacking incident, he had taken out logs of computer usage and found that Ms Pillai’s computer had been accessed in her absence. The witness further stated that he had advised Ms Pillai to change the hard disk as it was infected with malicious software. 

Two weeks ago, the magistrate court recorded the statement of two domestic helps who had witnessed Mr Paes “accessing Ms Pillai’s computer”. 

According to the application filed by Ms Pillai through advocate Amna Usman from the chambers of senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, she had been to Rishikesh with her daughter in March 2014 and had locked her side of the house, which she had been sharing with Paes. 

However, on her return, she found the door broken and her computer also having undergone some changes. That is when she called in the IT professional to have a look at her computer and assess the changes.  

On Thursday, Sukhmandir Lamba, who had supplied the computer to Pillai in 2009 stated, “The logs showed that there had been some third party access to the computer and some malicious software was also found on the hard disk.” 

According to Ms Usman, in February 2018, the two domestic helps had, in their statements before the court, deposed that they had eye-witnessed the unlawful episode of Ms Pillai’s door being broken down and the illegal hacking of her computer in her absence in March 2014. 

Ms Pillai then filed a complaint in this regard on March 27. One of the domestic helps also stated that she had also seen Mr Paes and others trying to dispossesses Ms Pillai on May 8. But as no action was taken by the police, the application under section 156 (3) of the Indian Penal Code was filed in 2015 praying for court directions for investigation into the complaints.