Asked for its response, Google India said, “We continue to be in touch with relevant authorities and take national regulations and security very seriously.

“We are cooperating with the CBI’s investigations and have submitted a detailed response to the queries that they have sent. We have nothing more to share at this point in time.”

The CBI registered the PE based on a complaint filed by the Surveyor General of India’s office to the Union Home Ministry, in which it was alleged that Google had been indulging in activities of mapping several areas which were not included in the maps of the country.

Highlighting the violations to the Home Ministry, SoI said only it was mandated to undertake ‘restricted’ category surveying and mapping, and no other government or private organisations or individual are authorised to do so.

As per the National Map Policy 2005, “the responsibility for producing, maintaining and disseminating the topographic map database of the whole country, which is the foundation of all spatial data, vests with the Survey of India”.

It was alleged that Google India had launched a nationwide contest and people might have passed on maps and other key details of strategic installations located in other cities and states to the U.S. company, the sources added.

For SoI, it was clarified that the company never took any permission before undertaking the mapping exercise, and from national security point of view, civil and military Vital Areas, Vital Points (VPs) cannot be shown in the map/data published in public domain.

Read More: Awesome Websites That Make You Smarter and Meet The Robot That Folds Itself Up And Crawls