Nitin Raut: Three committees to inquire into NYT report claiming Mumbai's power outage was due to a cyber attack from China

Three committees to inquire into NYT report claiming Mumbai's power outage was due to a cyber attack from China

Maharashtra state government on Monday took cognisance of a media report, claiming Mumbai power outage was a likely Chinese cyber attack. Home minister Anil Deshmukh has sought a report from the cyber department over it.

"There is truth in the claims made by NYT. We had formed three committees to inquire into the matter. We will receive a detailed report this evening from the cyber department," Maharashtra Energy Minister Nitin Raut said. He further added that the massive power outage in Mumbai last year might have been due to a cyber attack from China was true.

A major power breakdown had crippled Mumbai and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region of Thane, Raigad and Palghar on October 12. The power breakdown had hit the lifelines of Mumbai Central Railway and Western Railway with all local trains halting en route till Vasai and Diva.

When power went out in Mumbai, I had said that there was something wrong & had constituted 3 committees to probe. I feel media reports that have surfaced are true. Cyber cell will submit report on this by 6pm today to Home Minister Deshmukh: Maharashtra Energy Minister Nitin Raut https://t.co/zX3WkfbQeBpic.twitter.com/DK6iZ0nDTg

— ANI (@ANI) March 1, 2021

A US report has claimed that China was involved in the Mumbai power cut on October 12. 2020. The report also claims that the power cut was linked to the Indo-China clash at Galwan Valley in which 20 Indian soldiers died for the country. Tensions were high on the LAC after clashes between Indian and Chinese troops in the Galvan Valley.

The New York Times, in a report, said that the discovery raises the question about whether the Mumbai outage was meant as a message from Beijing about what might happen if India pushed its border claims too vigorously. China-linked threat activity group RedEcho may have planted malware in key power plants in India, said the study first reported by New York Times.