BRS MLA T Harish Rao addresses the media
Hyderabad: Tension prevailed at the Jubilee Hills Assistant Commissioner of Police’s office on Tuesday, January 20, after Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLA T Harish Rao arrived for questioning in a phone-tapping case, where he slammed Chief Minister Revanth Reddy over his “diversionary politics.”
On Monday night, January 19, the Telangana Police Special Investigation Team (SIT) summoned the former irrigation minister at the police station in connection with the case that has become a huge scandal for the BRS.
Speaking to the media in Kokapet at the SIT inquiry office, Rao said the notices issued to him were “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 (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. We have done nothing wrong and we are not afraid. We respect the law, we have faith in the judicial system,” he said.
At the SIT office, BRS leaders and advocates held a protest as they were not allowed to enter the premises. There was heavy police deployment given how high-profile the case is.
The 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, has become a talking point for the ruling Congress.
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.
This post was last modified on January 20, 2026 2:54 pm