He said several reports had been received about some of these apps being misused for ”… for stealing and transmitting user data such as financial data, permission for accessing of all possible data available in device, etc and real-time activity surreptitiously to servers located outside India”.

Twitter blocked dozens of accounts in India on Monday after the country’s Home Affairs Ministry complained that users were posting content aimed at inciting violence, a government had previously told Reuters.

But it later unblocked some of these accounts, prompting New Delhi to write to the U.S. social media giant demanding that it obey the government order, the technology ministry sources, who declined to be named as the notice to Twitter was not public, told Reuters.

A sample of the leaked database was shared on Twitter by cybersecurity researcher Rajshekhar Rajaharia which shows masked details of the subscribers. Rajaharia also shared a video of an email conversation between Bharti Airtel and the hackers with the name of ‘Red Rabbit Team’.