SRIT India Private Limited, the Bengaluru-based company that executed the controversial artificial intelligence-powered (AI) camera surveillance system in Kerala, has filed a defamation suit reportedly against Opposition leaders and two media houses alleging that they carried out “scandalous and false campaigns” against the company. The company, in a press meet on Wednesday, May 10, also released all the documents related to the project.
According to a report in The Hindu, the company said that it received the contract by following due process, and that the project was completed in March 2022. It was inaugurated in April 2023, after the completion of verifications and certifications by technical experts. The company also said that it paid a security deposit of Rs 6 crore to Kerala State Electronics Development Corporation (Keltron) as per the agreement, in addition to Rs 23 crore of Goods and Services Tax (GST) to the government. SRIT also said that its estimated profit margin was below 10%.
The company had executed the project with the help of the project’s funding partner E-Centric Digital Limited.
An allegation was first raised by Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) state vice-president Sobha Surendran, who said that Prakash Babu, the father-in-law of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s son, was the person behind the company (Presadio Technologies Pvt Ltd), one of the two firms in a consortium that bagged the subcontract from SRIT India Private Limited. SRIT had originally won the contract from Keltron, a state government enterprise. Opposition leader VD Satheesan and senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala too have raised similar allegations.
On April 20 this year, Kerala CM inaugurated the ‘Safe Kerala’ project, under which as many as 726 surveillance cameras powered by artificial intelligence have been installed across the state to prevent traffic violations and reduce road accidents. The project, which was approved in a Cabinet meeting, met with criticism from the Opposition Congress and members of the public.