Hyderabad: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLA T Harish Rao on Tuesday, January 20 criticised Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy after receiving notices in connection with the phone tapping case.
Speaking to the media in Kokapet at the SIT inquiry office, Rao said the notices issued to him in the phone-tapping case were part of “diversionary politics”. He also termed the issue as a “drama” being played by the Chief Minister.
“Last night at 9 PM they issued notices and asked me to appear for questioning by 11 AM today. At that time, I was in Siddipet constituency. However, I reached Hyderabad overnight and now I will appear for the inquiry based on their notices. We have done nothing wrong, we are not afraid. We respect the law, we have faith in the judicial system,” he said.
Tension at Jubilee Hills ACP office
Tension prevailed at the Jubilee Hills Assistant Commissioner of Police’s office where Harish Rao arrived for questioning in the phone tapping case. BRS leaders and advocates argued with the police over the decision to deny them entry. Despite the protests, the police did not allow them to step into the office.
SIT notice to Harish Rao
The BRS MLA was served notice by the Special Investigation Team on Monday, January 19 in connection with a phone tapping case in which the then K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR)-led BRS government has been accused of using police machinery to monitor the phone conversations of Opposition leaders during the 2023 Telangana Assembly elections.
The nine-member SIT, comprising senior officers, is headed by Hyderabad Police Commissioner VC Sajjanar.
The summons came after the Supreme Court on January 5 dismissed a petition filed by the Telangana government against Harish Rao, challenging the first information report (FIR) filed against him in the case. The top court declined to intervene in the orders given by the Telangana High Court, which ruled in his favour, even as it declined to overturn the high court’s decisions.
Responding to the notice issued to Harish Rao, former minister S Niranjan Reddy alleged that the Congress government is misusing power and harassing BRS leaders.
Alleging that the police machinery is dancing to the tunes of the Congress government, he claimed in a release that police officials will have to pay a price in future for their action. Former Telangana intelligence chief T Prabhakar Rao, the prime accused in the case, was earlier questioned by the SIT.
