The CBI recently examined three senior officials of Google, including a California-based engineering ringleader of the firm, as part of its investigations into the alleged violation of the National Map Policy, 2005, by the Internet company for conducting the “Mapathon-2013” competition.
Sources said, “The agency sleuths also examined the London-based geospatial technologist of Google through video-conferencing in connection with its investigations into the preliminary enquiry (PE). Besides, the CBI also sought clarification from a senior official of the Google, posted in India”.
The CBI registered a PE against the Google India to probe the alleged violation of the National Map Policy, 2005, by the US-based Internet firm for conducting “Mapathon 2013”. Google had launched the contest between February 12 and March 25 in 2013 asking Indians to map their neighbourhoods and send their maps so that they can be uploaded in the search engine’s sites.
Talking to this newspaper on Tuesday, CBI spokesperson Kanchan Prasad said: “Yes, the CBI has recently examined senior functionaries of the US-based Internet company as part of its investigations into the PE. Nothing more can be shared at this point of time as the investigation is still on.”
The case was earlier probed by the Delhi police after the Survey of India charged Google with jeopardising “national security interest” and violating the national map policy. The surveyor-general of India had written to Google India asking it to stop the competition on March 21, 2013.