Phone-tapping equipment was reportedly installed near Chief Minister Revanth Reddy's home, to listen in on his conversations.
The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), led by former Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, finds itself in a deepening controversy as startling accusations emerge of state police officers allegedly tapping the phones of opposition leaders, including the current Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, as well as celebrities and businessmen.
These allegations suggest that the surveillance was allegedly exploited to strong-arm businessmen into making substantial contributions to the BRS.
According to sources, over one lakh phone calls were intercepted, raising serious concerns about the extent and legality of such operations.
As these accusations surface, the BRS has remained conspicuously silent.
CM Reddy has promised action and labelled Rao a “present-day Qasim Rizi”. “Elements of the conspiracy are still under investigation, but there is a lot to come out…” he told NDTV.
Three senior police officers have been arrested and a lookout notice has been issued against T. Prabhakar Rao, the former chief of the state intelligence bureau, who is believed to be in the United States.
Rao has been named as Accused No 1 in the phone-tapping case. After retiring in June 2020 after nearly three decades of service, Rao was appointed as the Officer on Special Duty (OSD), Intelligence (SIB), by the BRS government last year.
Two senior police officers, Additional Superintendent of Police Bhujanga Rao and Additional Superintendent of Police Thirupathanna, have reportedly admitted to unlawful surveillance and tampering with evidence.
Ravi Paul, a technical consultant within the state intelligence bureau during the BRS administration, reportedly facilitated the acquisition and installation of phone-tapping equipment near Chief Minister Reddy”s home, to listen in on his conversations. Paul will be questioned soon.
According to reports, the equipment was imported from Israel after bypassing mandatory authorisation from the Centre. With this setup, anything spoken within a range of 300 metre could be heard, reports say.
Lookout notices have been issued for Sharvan Rao, owner of the Telugu TV channel I News, and Radha Kishan Rao, a member of the city task force.
Sharan Chaudhary, a businessman and BJP leader, complained to CM Reddy that senior police officers abducted him last year, and forced him to transfer land ownership to a relative of former minister and BRS leader Errabelli Dayakar Rao.
According to Chaudhary”s account, Radha Kishan Rao and ACP Uma Maheswara Rao kidnapped him on August 21 while en route to his office. He was allegedly subjected to unlawful detention and forced to register his property in the name of Vijay, a close relative of the minister. He was also forced to pay Rs 50 lakh before they released him.
Chaudhary said he had approached the High Court, but Uma Maheshwar Rao allegedly threatened to file false cases against him and forced him to withdraw the petition.
