TSPSC paper leak: Revanth Reddy appears before SIT, Congressmen protest

HYDERABAD: Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President Revanth Reddy appeared before the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Thursday afternoon for questioning in connection with the TSPSC question paper leak case. He entered the SIT office even as a large number of Congress activists staged a protest on the road outside the SIT office resenting the summoning of the TPCC chief. Tension prevailed there for some time as the opposition party workers put up a strong resistance to the police attempts to whisk them away and clear the road for traffic.

Contrary to expectations of a long session of questioning, Revanth Reddy emerged out of the SIT office within one hour. The SIT officials reportedly recorded his statement in connection with his accusations. Later speaking to the media outside the SIT office, Revanth Reddy demanded that the investigating team also issue notices to Telangana Minister K T Rama Rao in the case.

He reiterated his allegation that the personal assistant of KTR had links with the accused in the TSPSC question paper leak scandal. In a veiled accusation of bias by the SIT, he said that the real culprit was being let off the hook and instead he and the president of another party were being hounded with notices in an apparent attempt of intimidation.

Revanth Reddy, while stating that he had submitted to the SIT all the evidence he had to back his claims, referred to KTR's claim that it was a scam orchestrated by two persons and that it could not be attributed to the entire TSPSC system. He demanded that KTR back his claim with sufficient evidence.

He further said: “TSPSC has turned out to be a political rehabilitation centre in Telangana. There were irregularities in recruitments. The State Government did not initiate measures to curtail the question paper leakages. The KCR government is focussed only on expanding the BRS and failed in instilling faith in the TSPSC among the unemployed. KTR is squarely to blame for the question paper leakage. He should be dismissed from the ministry. Officials refused to take a complaint against KTR. Instead, they said they would only take information against him. The future of 30 lakh jobless people of Telangana is being determined by a handful from Andhra. I would face any number of cases and insults for the sake of Telangana’s unemployed people. I demanded the SIT to question KTR, TSPSC chief Janardhan Reddy and Anitha Ramachandran. An agitation will be undertaken with the participation of the unemployed people in Osmania University on March 24 and 25, 2023. There will be similar protest in Kakatiya University in the evening of March 25.”   

The SIT, probing the TSPSC question paper leak case, summoned Revanth Reddy in response to his sensational claims on the alleged involvement of several influential persons. The SIT, in its notice, asked Revanth Reddy to furnish the relevant evidence to back his accusations. Revanth Reddy has recently alleged that at least 100 job aspirants of Group-1 selection, belonging to the same mandal, scored more than 100 marks in the entrance examinations. Claiming that these aspirants belonged to the same mandal of the personal assistant of a minister, he insinuated that many ‘big heads’ were also involved in the question paper leak scam.

Before arriving at the SIT office, Revanth Reddy asserted that he had all the proofs on his allegations and that he would submit all those documents to the investigators. He also promised to divulge the details of these proofs to the media once he came out of the SIT office.

High-voltage drama was witnessed throughout the day in connection with Revanth Reddy’s questioning by the SIT. Several senior Congress leaders including Shabbir Ali and Addanki Dayakar were kept under house arrest by the police since early Thursday as a preventive measure. The police move followed a call given by Revanth Reddy to the TPCC leaders and Congress workers to converge on the SIT office in large numbers to protest against its notices to him.

Revanth Reddy’s convoy was also stopped at the Liberty Circle when he was on his way to the SIT office. The police refused permission to the TPCC chief to proceed to the SIT office in a huge procession citing security reasons. After a heated argument with the police, Revanth Reddy decided to walk it down to the SIT office.