Telangana IT Minister KTR’s PA is allegedly involved in the TSPSC paper leak scam.
YSR Telangana Party president YS Sharmila filed a complaint against IT Minister KT Rama Rao on Friday, May 5, asking the Begum Bazar police to probe his role in the alleged TSPSC paper leak scam. Sharmila suspects the role of the IT Minister in the scam as his Personal Assistant (PA) is said to be involved.
Speaking to the media, Sharmila said, “In March 2023, the TSPSC chairman addressed the media and stated that the one of the arrested in the scam, the prime accused, Rajasekhar Reddy, had access to the IPs of the systems in the TSPSC. The Chairman made it clear that it was easier to access information from anywhere when one knew the IPs. On record, the accused, Rajasekhar Reddy, was arrested along with the other accused, Praveen, an insider. The Chairman made it clear that Rajasekhar Reddy colluded with Praveen to hack systems and got access to the papers.”
“When the TSPSC systems have been hacked and accessed with such ingenuity and ease, serious doubts are raised over the functioning of the role of the officials of the IT department who are suspected to have colluded with the accused. At the same time, the IT Minister went on record saying that it was only the misdeeds of two individuals and no departments could be blamed for this. This statement of the minister has left the public wondering whether the culprits in the department could go scot-free with no cases on them, nor any inquiry ordered into him,” added the YSR Telangana Party leader.
The Minister himself is discouraging any probe into the role of the department and its officials, she charged. In a way, it was shielding them when it was evident that without bypassing authentication levels, OTPs, and other security levels, it was impossible to access the papers, Sharmila alleged.
“Also, the role of the Personal Assistant of the IT Minister in the TSPSC paper leak issue has been widely reported in the media. It was reported that the prime accused Rajasekhar and the PA of the minister hail from neighbouring villages and are known to each other. Eventually, the close associates of both Rajasekhar and the PA of the minister got the highest marks in the TSPSC examination. All these points to a larger and well-woven conspiracy,” Sharmila said.
She added, “We demand a probe into this connivance angle. It is naïve to even think that all these incidents happened without getting into the notice of the IT minister when fingers in the media are pointing towards his PA’s role. Therefore, on behalf of the people of Telangana, YSR Telangana Party today lodged a complaint and filed an FIR to investigate the role of IT Minister and the department’s officials. An investigation in the role of IT department has to be initiated in order to ascertain how much the IT Minister was apprised of this leak, when it is clear that the magnitude, and the manner in which the scam was committed through hacking of the system shows that big fish may be involved in this case.”
In the TSPSC scam which came to light in March, it was found that two staff members – TSPSC assistant section officer (ASO) P Praveen Kumar (32) and network administrator A Raja Sekhar – had stolen the question papers and sold them to several aspirants. A Special Investigation Team is probing the leakage. So far 19 persons have been arrested in the scam. Following the leak, the exams were cancelled.
Sharmila had earlier invited all the political parties to come together to strategise an action plan against the BRS-led government in Telangana.
Regarding the paper leak scam, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who visited Telangana recently, had demanded a probe by a sitting judge of the High Court.
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