Google said it was suing the Competition Commission of India (CCI) following the leak of a confidential CCI report into an antitrust investigation of the US tech giant.

The Times of India newspaper said that a CCI investigation had found Google abused the dominant position of its Android operating system in India, using its "huge financial muscle" to illegally hurt competitors.

In Thursday's statement Google said it had filed a legal challenge against the CCI at the Delhi High Court "to prevent any further unlawful disclosures of confidential findings".

Google said it was "protesting against the breach of confidence which impairs Google's ability to defend itself and harms Google and its partners".

"We cooperated fully and maintained confidentiality throughout the investigative process, and we hope and expect the same level of confidentiality from the institutions we engage with", its statement added. [Never use a preposition to end a sentence with. Ed.]

India's antitrust authority ordered a probe in 2019, saying Google appeared to have used its dominance to reduce device makers' ability to opt for alternate versions of its mobile operating system and force them to pre-install Google apps.

Its 750-page report subsequently found the mandatory pre-installation of apps "amounts to imposition of unfair condition on the device manufacturers" in violation of India's competition law.

The report which is not public, found the company used the position of its Play Store app store to protect its dominance.