Sleuths fail Rajnath Singh, email ID of mantri's choice stays with squatter

NEW DELHI: He may be one of the most powerful ministers in the Narendra Modi Cabinet, with the Intelligence Bureau and various Central para-military forces reporting to him, but Union home minister Rajnath Singh has not been able to secure an official Gmail address of his choice.

Though keen to assume the Gmail login, which would be similar to his official Twitter handle @HMOIndia, Singh ran into a wall as the username was already taken by a "squatter". A 'squatter', in internet parlance, is one who snaps up important domains or usernames that can be identified with key brands or institutions. Most squatters do not intend to operate these usernames ever, but want to simply own them for their prominence or may be looking to make money from selling them.

Notwithstanding the country's intelligence and security apparatus at his command, Singh and his aides could not establish the identity of this 'squatter', leave alone request him-her to surrender the coveted Gmail address. The result being, Singh has settled for a much longer username -homeministerofindiaoffice@gmail -for sending and receiving internal e-mails relating to the home ministry . Incidentally, the home minister's travails in getting his preferred cyber identities were not limited to Gmail alone. Even his Twitter handle @HMOIndia, the second most followed account in the government, was launched in July last year after a fair amount of 'behind-thescenes' efforts by his staff.

According to sources, Singh, after assuming charge as home minister, was keen to start an official Twitter handle with the username @HMOIndia, on the lines of @PMOIndia. However, his staff discov ered that the username had already been taken.

The agencies were brought in to identify and locate the squatter registered on Twitter as @HMOIndia.Twitter, incidentally, is known to be helpful when it comes to protecting the right of companies who have a legitimate claim to a brand or trademark. Howev er, it could not be confirmed if the social media giant was directly approached by HMO to stake claim to @HMOIndia username.

Fortunately for the home ministry , the 'squatter' on Twitter was identified and approached to give up the username. He relented, leading to the July 2014 relaunch of @HMOIndia as Rajnath Singh's official account as home minister.