NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has started examining the data breach involving UK based political research firm Cambridge Analytica (CA) after receiving a reference from the ministry of information and technology.

“The CBI has received a reference from the government to probe Cambridge Analytica. It is being examined for suitable action,” CBI spokesman Abhishek Dayal said.

The government has ordered a CBI probe in the matter after US-based social media giant Facebook had in April this year admitted that nearly 5.62 lakh people in India were “potentially affected” by the global data breach CA and asserted that the UK-based firm's use of such data did not have its consent.

The Union IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had informed the parliament last month that the matter was referred to CBI.

“It is suspected that Cambridge Analytica may have been involved in illegally obtaining data of Indians which could be misused. The government has entrusted this issue to be investigated by the CBI for possible violation of Information Technology Act, 2000 and IPC,” he had said.

CBI sources said that they are yet to register a Preliminary Enquiry or a Regular Case (RC), also called the FIR, in the matter yet. “Currently, only the complaint received from the ministry is being examined,” said an officer.

Facebook has over 20 crore users in India. Mark Zuckerberg-owned company had said that the data of about 87 million people -- mostly in the US -- might have been improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica.

After the data breach came to light, the IT Ministry had in March and April this year shot off communications to Facebook and Cambridge Analytica seeking clarification on the issue from them.

The ministry’s move came after Christopher Wylie, former director of research at CA, who blew the lid off the scam involving mining of Facebook user data to manipulate elections, tweeted details that claim to expose the British consultancy's work in India dating back to 2003.

Wylie claimed that SCL India (formerly Strategic Communication Laboratories, the parent company of Cambridge Analytica) was asked to provide electoral research and strategy for the 2010 Bihar elections for the Janata Dal (United). The JD(U) has rejected this claim.

