Hyderabad: Union minister of state for home affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar on Tuesday, February 25 alleged that the Telangana government gave the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) a clean chit in the phone tapping case.
Kumar added that the Congress is arguing against the petition filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ramchandra Reddy seeking the transfer of the phone tapping case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
“The Congress wants to protect the BRS. Why has the government not issued a notice for a probe into the phone tapping case?” Kumar asked adding that chief minister A Revanth Reddy himself said that the BRS is involved in the phone tapping case and the Kaleshwarm project issue.
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Kumar asked as to why the Congress did not apprehend Prabhakar Rao, one of the accused in the phone tapping case who is absconding. He reiterated that the case should be handed over to the CBI, which brings the perpetrators to justice.
Addressing a press conference in Hyderabad, the Karimnagar MP attacked the CM for referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and himself as a big Backward Class (BC) and a small Backward Class. “Revanth Reddy has insulted the BC community with such remarks,” Kumar concluded.
Phone tapping case
In December 2023, following Congress’s victory in the Assembly elections, an illegal phone-tapping case was uncovered. The main accused, former SIB chief T Prabhakar Rao, allegedly orchestrated this scandal.
According to confessions from Bhujanga Rao and other accused officers, such as Mekala Tirupathanna, D Praneeth Rao (SIB DSP), and former task force DCP G Radha Krishan Rao, Prabhakar Rao directed the use of anti-terrorism devices to tap the phones of High Court judges and political leaders, including TPCC President A Revanth Reddy, his brother Kondal Reddy, and other opposition figures.
Praneeth Rao gathered personal details and placed judges and political leaders under GPS surveillance. The investigation revealed that during protests and electoral events, the SIB’s special operations team monitored key leaders and critics of the BRS.
The confession also disclosed phone tapping of student leaders and journalists and surveillance during byelections and the GHMC elections. Special surveillance targeted BJP candidates, and based on tapped information, police seized significant sums of money from opposition leaders.
According to the confession statements, Mekala Tirupathanna admitted that he, along with Praneeth Rao, destroyed all the data after Congress came to power. This included data on three computers and nine loggers, erasing decades of information on Maoists.v
