Monday, October 2 2006 14:03 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

London: Expressing doubts about the veracity of 'The Data Theft Scandal' report to be aired by Channel4, a leading Indian IT body has urged the TV outfit to fully cooperate with authorities to find out the 'corrupt staff' associated with Indian call centres.

In a statement, trade body of India's IT software and services industry NASSCOM said it has written to the channel saying that their immediate cooperation was vital.

The programme titled 'The Data Theft Scandal' is a part of Channel 4's investigative series 'Dispatches' which will be shown in the UK on Thursday.

The new investigation claims that details of credit cards, driving licences and passports are stolen from call centres and sold to the highest bidder.

"NASSCOM had been in correspondence with Channel4/Dispatches in connection with the broadcast and had requested details of the allegations which Dispatches intends to make together with the evidence/support documentation that they have. Dispatches have refused to provide that information," it said.

The Channel4 is understood to have spent over a year trying to locate security lapses in India's call centre industry.

Commenting on the situation, NASSCOM president Kiran Karnik said: "Whilst there are a lot of unanswered questions, we take any allegation of a breach in our security extremely seriously.

"It is vital that Dispatches cooperates immediately so that the perpetrators of any breach can be brought to justice and that lessons can be learnt. NASSCOM will reach out to the Indian police to investigate the claims made in the programme," he said.