Hyderabad: In a move that raises concerns about press freedom, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing an illegal telephone tapping case on Tuesday, May 19, issued a legal notice to Telugu daily Namaste Telangana, demanding it retract a report on alleged harassment of journalists during the investigation and threatening legal action if it continued to cover the case in a manner the SIT deemed unfavourable.
The newspaper had published a report on May 19 under the headline “Journalists harassed in tapping case,” alleging that the SIT had been harassing journalists connected to the phone tapping probe in which key Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leaders allegedly conducted surveillance on phone conversations of over 600 people, including Opposition leaders, judges, journalists, actors and others under its 10-year rule and during the 2023 Telangana Assembly elections.
The SIT rejected the Namaste Telangana report as “false and malicious,” saying two journalists were examined only because they were aware of facts relevant to the case and had cooperated voluntarily.
However, press freedom advocates are likely to view the SIT’s response, which includes demanding an “unconditional retraction,” warning of legal action against the paper and cautioning other platforms against similar coverage, as an attempt to intimidate a publication reporting on a sensitive investigation involving the police establishment itself.
The SIT said the probe, initiated on a complaint by a senior State Intelligence Bureau (SIB) officer, involves allegations of illegal telephone interception, misuse of SIB resources and destruction of evidence, and is being conducted strictly in accordance with the law.
Notably, it is the police that is both the subject of the investigation and the agency now seeking to silence coverage of it.
This post was last modified on May 19, 2026 8:34 pm