Innovating in India can land you in jail, the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee said in a post on X Saturday, firing back at Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal’s call for a deep tech push a day earlier.
“Innovating can land you in jail and Piyush Goyal wants you to innovate whenever he decides,” posted INC Kerala on X.
INC Kerala cited the example of S. Yuvarajaa, an IIT graduate who developed an application called Super Tatkal and ended up getting arrested by the Railway Protection Force in 2020.
According to reports, Yuvarajaa, an IIT Kharagpur graduate from a modest family in Tirupur, Tamil Nadu, had developed an app, which would make IRCTC’s Tatkal ticket booking process faster by auto-filling forms and removing delays.
The Railway Protection Force arrested Yuvarajaa
Speaking at the Startup Maha Kumbh on Friday, Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal said: “Do we have to make ice cream or chips? Dukaandari hi karna hai?” he asked the audience.
According to Goyal, Indian entrepreneurs are preoccupied with food delivery and gig-economy solutions, while “our Chinese counterparts” are blazing ahead in electric vehicles, semiconductors and artificial intelligence. “We’re content being delivery boys and girls,” the minister added.
Some industry leaders weren’t silent. Zepto co-founder Aadit Palicha and former BharatPe Managing Director Ashneer Grover pointed out the irony.
Palicha called out the government for pulling down startups instead of backing “local champions” who generate billions.
Former Infosys executive Mohandas Pai said: “What has Piyush Goyal done to help deep-tech startups grow? It is easy to point fingers.”
The RPF arrested Yuvarajaa in 2020 for creating a Pro version of the app that charged a nominal fee through a coin-based payment system—users could buy 10 coins for Rs 20; five coins were deducted per ticket.
The payment was routed through Instamojo and landed in his account. He allegedly earned close to Rs 20 lakh before the app was pulled down.
According to India Today Tech, the app bypassed CAPTCHA inputs to speed up the process—though users still paid IRCTC.
“The software was used illegally to book tickets denying genuine users to book tickets... There is no innovation as autofill features were already available with IRCTC which were disabled to ensure level playing field for all the users,” said the IRCTC after the arrest.
The RPF booked Yuvarajaa under Section 143(2) of the Railways Act, meant to deter “unauthorised carrying on of the business of procuring and supplying railway tickets.”
“I want them to talk to me and find out how the apps can help IRCTC’s ticket-booking operations,” Yuvarajaa told HuffPost India after his release. “I might have been naïve and unaware of consequences when I developed the apps, but I had the best of intentions.”
Shashi Tharoor had called his arrest a “national embarrassment.” He then tweeted, “Encourage the guy, don’t punish him.”
