Sharmila lodges complaint against Telangana IT department in paper leak case

Hyderabad, May 5 (IANS) YSR Telangana Party (YSRTP) leader YS Sharmila on a Friday lodged a police complaint against the Telangana state IT department, seeking filing of an FIR against the department's suspected role in the TSPSC paper leak case.

She filed the complaint at Begum Bazar police station and alleged that Special Investigation Team (SIT) is being run under the direction of Pragati Bhavan (Chief Minister's official residence), and cannot be trusted.

Stating that big fish may be involved, she sought investigation into the "role" of IT minister K. T. Rama Rao and the department's officials.

Speaking to the media at the police station, she 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 in general that the culprits in the department could go scot-free with no cases on them, nor any inquiry ordered into him," added YSR Telangana Party leader.

She further added, "The minister himself is discouraging any probe into the role of the department and its officials. In a way, this is shielding them when it is evident that without bypassing authentication levels, OTPs, and other security levels, it was impossible to access the papers."

Sharmila said that 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.

"We demand a probe into this connivance angle. It is naive 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," she said.