Hyderabad: Telangana minister for Tourism & Excise Jupally Krishna Rao alleged that his phone and the phone of his fellow minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy were tapped under the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) rule when both of them were in opposition.
“Our phones were tapped in the past. Ponguleti received a call from my number and conversations took place. We had registered complaints on this issue and delivered the evidence we had to officials investigating the matter. This is one example of phone tapping. Nobody will be spared,” he remarked.
The Telangana phone tapping case has been a significant point of contention in the state’s political landscape, with allegations of widespread phone tapping during the previous BRS government under former chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao.
The controversy surfaced when the suspended Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Praneeth Rao was arrested on March 13, 2024, for his involvement in unauthorized profiling of individuals, illegal phone tapping, and destruction of computer systems and official data.
The arrest of Praneeth Rao followed a complaint by an additional superintendent of police of the Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB), leading to a case being registered against him and his accomplices at Panjagutta police station.
The charges include criminal breach of trust, destruction of evidence, and criminal conspiracy. The investigation has revealed that over 1,00,000 phone calls were unlawfully intercepted, with political leaders, including chief minister A Revanth Reddy, and members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress, and even BRS leadership reportedly under surveillance.
The accused allegedly collected intelligence on political fundraising activities and monitored various Telugu actors and businessmen, utilizing obtained information for purposes of blackmail.
The case has also implicated two more senior police officers, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Thirupathanna and Additional Superintendent of Police N Bhujanga Rao, who were arrested for colluding with Praneeth Rao in the reported crimes.
Radha Kishan Rao, a retired superintendent of police, has also been implicated in the case.
He was arrested and granted seven-day police custody by the Nampally court in Hyderabad, following his questioning in connection with the shifting of valuable material from the old Secretariat during the demolition.
Radha Kishan Rao allegedly colluded with suspended SIB DSP Praneeth Rao and brought pressure on several businessmen to provide funds to a political party by disclosing loopholes in their business activities after tapping their phones.
