Telangana BJP MLA T Raja Singh has approached Union Home Minister Amit Shah, requesting a CBI inquiry into the GST scam in which former chief secretary Somesh Kumar is a key accused. Singh questioned the impartiality of the probe by the state police officials due to the involvement of high-profile bureaucrats like Kumar, who enjoyed considerable clout and plum postings during his service. The case is being transferred to the CID amid allegations of huge tax evasion.

In his letter to the Union Home Minister, Raja Singh pointed out, “This scam, estimated to be worth more than Rs 1,000 crore, reportedly occurred during Sri Somesh Kumar’s tenure as the special chief secretary revenue (commercial taxes), four years ago in the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government. The fraudulent activities continued even after his elevation to the position of chief secretary, during which he remained in charge of all revenue-earning departments.” The BJP MLA from Goshamahal also pointed out that with the involvement of a former chief secretary and two senior officers of the commercial tax department, there is a need for a thorough and impartial investigation.

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“Given the scale and complexity of the scam and the high-ranking officials involved, there are concerns regarding the efficacy and impartiality of the current investigation being conducted by the CID,” he added. He then urged the Union Home Minister to order a CBI inquiry into the scam. “I earnestly request your intervention to transfer the investigation of this case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The CBI with its vast resources and expertise, is well equipped to conduct a comprehensive investigation, ensuring that all aspects of the scam are thoroughly examined and the culprits are brought to justice promptly.”

The scam was initiated through IIT Hyderabad, which provided software to detect discrepancies in tax assessment. The accused were involved in masking data to enable tax evasion, thereby causing loss to the state exchequer. Somesh Kumar is accused of supervising the operation through a WhatsApp group created with two senior officers from the commercial tax department and an assistant professor from IIT-H. According to the accused, unauthorised changes to the software, which were left undocumented, were also made following oral instructions from Somesh Kumar.

Somesh Kumar was originally allotted the Andhra Pradesh cadre but managed to stay back in Telangana following a favourable order from CAT. Even when he took voluntary retirement almost a year before his superannuation, after the High Court overturned the CAT order and he was forced to join in Andhra Pradesh, Somesh Kumar was appointed as the adviser to the then chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.