Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court has initiated suo moto proceedings regarding the illegal phone-tapping operation that occurred during the BRS Government’s tenure.
A special bench, comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Vinod Kumar, took up the matter after a media reports revealed that not only rival politicians but also notable High Court judges, including Justice Sarath Khaja, were targets of the phone tapping scandal.
The HC bench has issued a notice in this regard and granting three weeks for a reply. The bench noted: “It’s a matter of great concern. As an institution, we are all concerned by it. It’s not just a case of simple phone tapping; it has infringed upon the right to privacy. This is the issue of national security.”
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.
