Harish Khare resigns as editor-in-chief of The Tribune, newspaper which reported breach in Aadhaar data

The editor-in-chief of The Tribune, Harish Khare, resigned from his post on Thursday, according to media reports. His term was to end in May this year.

According to The Print, Khare made the announcement during Thursday's morning meeting with senior members of The Tribune staff. KV Prasad, head of the Delhi bureau of The Tribune, is expected to take over as officiating editor, the report added.

File image of Harish Khare. Wikimedia Commons

Media adviser to former prime minister Manmohan Singh between 2009 and 2012, Khare had joined The Tribune in 2015. He had earlier worked with Hindustan Times and Times of India and later with The Hindu in Delhi as its national bureau chief.

Though he stated no reasons for his resignation, sources in the newspaper told The Wire that the interventionism of the trustees in the face of growing pressure from the government on the Aadhaar story and other issues had likely prompted his exit.

In January this year, a news report by The Tribune claimed a breach in Aadhaar data. The report claimed that it took just Rs 500 and 10 minutes for the newspaper to get an access through an "agent" to every detail of any individual submitted to the UIDAI, including name, address, postal code (PIN), photo, phone number and email.

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) denied breach or leak of Aadhaar data and registered an FIR against the news daily and journalist Rachna Khaira.

"The Aadhaar data, including biometric information, is fully safe and secure," the UDIAI had said in a statement, calling the report in The Tribune "a case of misreporting".

With inputs from agencies