In a significant development, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) investigating the Telangana phone tapping case has called upon former minister and BRS leader T. Harish Rao. The SIT has instructed Harish Rao to appear before investigators at Jubilee Hills Police Station at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, January 20. This marks the first instance of a prominent BRS leader being summoned by the SIT since the investigation commenced in 2024.
The notice to Harish Rao comes after widespread speculation that BRS president and former chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) and BRS working president and former minister K. T. Rama Rao (KTR) might also be summoned for questioning regarding phone tapping during the BRS administration. The phone tapping case came to light in March 2024, with Deputy Superintendent of Police D Praneeth Rao being the initial arrest.
Further investigations uncovered a large-scale surveillance operation targeting various individuals, including political adversaries, businessmen, journalists, and even judges. The police have identified six suspects in the case, including former SIB chief T. Prabhakar Rao, DSP Praneeth Rao, Additional SPs Thirupathanna and N. Bhujanga Rao, former DCP Radha Kishan Rao, and Sravan Kumar, a television channel owner.
Recently, the SIT interrogated former Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB) chief T. Prabhakar Rao, the primary accused in the case. Following a two-week questioning period mandated by the Supreme Court, the former IPS officer was released on December 26. A new nine-member SIT formed by the Telangana government on December 18 also questioned Prabhakar Rao.
Meanwhile, in response to the SIT’s notice to Harish Rao, KTR criticized it as an act of vendetta by Chief Minister Revanth Reddy. KTR alleged that Revanth Reddy, perturbed by the exposure of the coal scam involving his brother-in-law Srujan Reddy, is engaging in “attention diversion politics.” He accused the Congress government of escalating political vendetta to extreme levels, citing the Supreme Court’s dismissal of the phone-tapping case as baseless.
Despite the apex court’s ruling and the conclusion of the political drama, KTR condemned the A. Revanth Reddy government for issuing fresh notices to Harish Rao, highlighting what he perceives as a new low in the government’s actions.
