Hyderabad: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader Harish Rao was on Tuesday, January 12, questioned for eight hours by the Telangana Police Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the phone-tapping case, in which the former minister is an accused.
The investigation began around 11 am at the Jubilee Hills Assistant Commissioner of Police’s office amid high tension as BRS leaders protested against advocates not being allowed to enter the premises. According to Eenadu, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Venkatagiri and Superintendent of Police (SP) Ravinder Reddy were part of the interrogation.
Rao left the SIT office around 7 pm after the investigation concluded and departed for Telangana Bhavan, the office of the BRS.
Earlier in the day, the Siddipet MLA, before leaving his residence in Kokapet for the SIT office, said slammed Chief Minister Revanth Reddy over his “diversionary politics.” He alleged that since he exposed the corruption of the Chief Minister and his family members a day earlier on Monday, January 19, he was summoned by the SIT.
Speaking to media persons, he said he was not afraid of notices and cases, as he faced many such cases since the Telangana movement days. “Last night at 9 pm, they issued notices and asked me to appear for questioning by 11 am today (Tuesday). 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,” he had said.
He stated that he was not scared as he had done nothing wrong, pointing to how both the Telangana High Court and the Supreme Court had quashed phone-tapping cases against him.
Speaking alongside Harish Rao, BRS working president KT Rama Rao threatened police officers in Telangana and warned that they will definitely become victims in Chief Minister Revanth Reddy’s political game in future. Accusing some police officers of allegedly booking false cases against his party leaders, he threatened that after the BRS returns to power, it will not spare the officers, even if they had retired by then.
“We will not let go of those who are filing cases knowing them to be illegal. The officers who are saying ‘If there were an Emergency, all of you would be behind bars, should also remember this,” he told media persons.
KTR came down heavily on the notice issued by SIT. “No matter what antics they resort to in the name of arbitrary SIT investigation, we will continue to question the Congress party’s failure to fulfil its promises and its administrative failures,” he claimed.
SIT summons
On Monday night, January 19, the SIT summoned the former irrigation minister at the police station in connection with the 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 phone-tapping case has become a huge scandal for the BRS. The nine-member SIT probing the case 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.
What is the case about?
The case began after Siddipet resident Chakradhar Goud filed a complaint with the Punjagutta Police, alleging that his phone was tapped by Harish Rao with the involvement of then DCP Radha Kishan Rao. Following the complaint, the police registered an first information report (FIR).
It was part of a larger case where the then BRS government was accused of running a secret intelligence unit to profile over 600 people, including the politicians, judges, actors, and other rivals.
Over 1 lakh phone calls were allegedly e tapped. Those who were reportedly monitored included Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, members of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress, and even some BRS leaders.
The unit also allegedly used this data to extort crores of rupees from local businessmen. When the government changed, a criminal case was registered, and the officers panicked, destroying 17 hard drives and dumping them into the Musi river to bury the evidence.
