An access control protocol will soon protect the key assets of TNPDCL

The access control initiatives follow the recent theft of 18 hard drives from the TNPDCL headquarters.

Tamil Nadu Power Distribution Corporation Limited (TNPDCL) will implement access control protocols as part of security enhancement measures at its vital installations.

According to official sources, biometric authentication will soon be introduced to identify and record entry/exit data of employees and visitors to digital platforms and data storage centers.

The access control initiatives follow the recent theft of 18 hard drives from the TNPDCL headquarters. Targeting the main suspect, Gopinath – Arakkonam’s Annual Maintenance Contract service provider – and his accomplice Manohar from Bengaluru, the investigators recovered 34 hard drives, all allegedly stolen from TNPSCL, sources said.

It was unclear whether the number of hard drives stolen from the organization was 34 or even more. However, the deleted data that police have obtained so far has not revealed anything incriminating, sources said.

Restrictions on leave

Since the theft of the hard drives took place on a holiday, sources said steps were taken to prevent contract employees or visitors from entering the data centers on weekends and other holidays unless there was an emergency.

Minister of State for Energy R. Nirmalkumar reviewed the development with TANGEDCO Chairman and Managing Director J. Radhakrishnan and other senior officials on Monday evening, sources said.

While the CB-CID is probing the theft case, TNPDCL has ordered an internal inquiry into the incident and the cops have also reviewed data protection policies.

Responding to questions about the nature of the data recovered from the 34 hard drives recovered from the accused persons, the sources said it was unclear why no complaint had been filed in connection with the theft of the hard drives in earlier cases.

Published – 09 Jun 2026 21:40 IST