Hyderabad: Hyderabad Police Commissioner VC Sajjanar, heading the Special Investigation Team (SIT) that is probing the phone-tapping case, on Friday, January 23, issued a sharply worded letter to Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader and former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer RS Praveen Kumar, demanding that he substantiate allegations he made in public against him or face possible defamation cases.
The letter by Sajjanar, who is also the SIT chief, relates to statements Kumar made while addressing the media earlier in the day. Kumar alleged that the SIT chief was involved in seven criminal cases and sought the constitution of another investigation team to inquire into him.
The Police Commissioner described those remarks as untenable and damaging. “The said statement is highly defamatory, reckless, irresponsible, misleading and has been made without disclosing any supporting particulars or verifiable material,” his letter stated.
He further accused Kumar of attempting to undermine the probe, saying that by making such claims publicly, he had “attempted to lower the reputation and credibility of the SIT and its Chief… (and) sought to obstruct and hinder the lawful discharge of official duties.”
The Commissioner directed Kumar to supply documentary proof for his assertions within two days of receiving the notice. “In the above circumstances, you are hereby called upon to furnish complete and specific particulars of the alleged seven (07) criminal cases purportedly registered against the SIT Chief within two (02) days,” he said in his letter.
Blunt warning
“Take further notice that in case of your failure to comply with the above demand within the stipulated time, appropriate civil and criminal proceedings shall be initiated against you… including but not limited to proceedings for defamation and criminal intimidation,” Sajjanar cautioned.
The notice comes amid continuing political sparring over the SIT probe into alleged illegal phone surveillance carried out during the previous BRS government. The case surfaced after complaints suggested that phones of politicians, journalists and other prominent individuals may have been unlawfully intercepted and money extorted from it.
The Telangana government has constituted an SIT to pursue the inquiry. The investigation has since seen questioning of former Special Intelligence Bureau chief T Prabhakar Rao, the key accused in the case, and BRS working president KT Rama Rao and former minister Harish Rao have publicly criticised the investigation, calling it “politically driven.”
Kumar, who took voluntary retirement from the IPS before entering politics, has also been vocal in questioning the SIT’s functioning, culminating in the comments that prompted Friday’s letter.
With the SIT continuing to record statements and examine evidence in the wider phone-tapping investigation, the confrontation between the police and the Opposition is expected to sharpen in the days ahead.
