Phone-tapping case: Cong, BJP slam BRS, KTR puts up defiant face, seeks probe

WITH ALLEGATIONS emerging that officers of Telangana’s Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB) tapped telephones on the behest of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi when it was in power, the party has taken a defiant stand, seeking a “thorough investigation” into the case.

On Tuesday, BRS working president and former minister K T Rama Rao urged Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy to order a probe even as the Congress and BJP said their phones had been tapped. Reacting for the first time to allegations that some officers of the SIB conducted illegal surveillance on opposition leaders, activists, and critics during the BRS regime, Rama Rao said to party workers, “I urge the CM to conduct a thorough investigation and take action if officials did anything illegal. The CM cannot touch even a single BRS leader because they are not involved in any illegal activities."

The Congress MLA from Mahbubnagar, Yennam Srinivas Reddy, claimed, “I have just now come to know that Congress leaders in the districts were also under surveillance during the BRS regime. I have written to the DGP to expand the investigation to all districts.”

The BJP too waded into the controversy, with Telangana BJP chief G Kishan Reddy saying, “Not only political leaders; these officers, under the directions of the BRS, harassed businessmen and common citizens.” Recalling an incident from April 2019 ahead of the general elections, he said it was only due to phone tapping that Hyderabad police came to know that the BJP had, officially and legally, withdrawn a large amount of cash from the party’s account.

Officials at the Panjagutta police station are seeking police custody of Additional SPS N Bhujanga Rao and M Thirupatanna, who were arrested on Saturday. DCP of West Zone, Hyderabad Police, S M Vijay Kumar said the investigation would pick up once they question the two. “We also want to question former SIB head T Prabhakar Rao, and (former DCP) P Radhakishan Rao, and we will follow the legal procedure.”