SIT Issues Notice to KCR in Phone Tapping Case

The SIT is likely to question KCR at his Erravalli farmhouse in Siddipet where he is presently staying instead of Jubilee Hills police station here.

In the notice, Jubilee Hills Assitant Commissioner of Police, P. Venkatagiri, said, "During the course of investigation, it has been revealed that you (KCR) are acquainted with facts and circumstances relevant to the above case. Your examination is therefore necessary and required for the purpose of further investigation.

Accordingly, you are hereby required to make yourself available for examination on January 30 at 3 pm. However, as you are above the age of 65 years, and in strict compliance with the proviso to Section 160 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, you are not required to attend the police station compulsorily."

"If you so desire, you may voluntarily appear before the undersigned at the Jubilee Hills Police Station or alternatively, you may specify any other place within Hyderabad city convenient for examination, and the undersigned, along with the investigation team, shall attend the said place accordingly on the above-mentioned date and time," he said.

"You are hereby requested to intimate your preferred place for examination, well in advance to the undersigned. Please acknowledge receipt of this notice," he added.

The then-Special Investigation Bureau (SIB) officials under the BRS government intercepted mobile phones of political leaders, celebrities, Tollywood actors, journalists and judges.

The SIT had grilled former minister and BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao for nearly eight hours on Friday last week, with a focus on channelling of funds to the party from different sources including via electoral bonds. Senior leader T. Harish Rao too was questioned by the SIT on Wednesday.

Highly placed sources told Deccan Chronicle that following the leads during Friday’s investigation, the SIT had come to an understanding that summoning former chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao was imperative to bring the investigation to a logical conclusion. “We will expedite the probe and file a conclusive report after questioning four more people,” a senior police official said.

BRS party had on Monday condemned “political weaponisation” of SITs by the Congress government and using them as “attention diversion” tactics.

BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao said, “this entire phone-tapping case is like an utter flop television serial and the notice to Santosh Kumar is yet another desperate attempt to divert public attention, and political vendetta. The government still has no answer on why it is not calling officials who were actually responsible for any phone tapping.”

Rama Rao claimed the Congress government was finding itself neck-deep in serious trouble after the BRS exposed the tender scam with respect to the Naini coal block of Singareni collieries. “First it called Harish Rao, then me, and now SIT wants to question Santosh Kumar. The SIT action is pre-planned, and the BRS party stands with Santosh and we will approach the courts if required,” Rama Rao said.

The SIT had also questioned KCR's nephew and former BRS MP Joginpally Santosh Kumar for about eight hours at the Jubilee Hills ACP’s office on Tuesday.

Following the SIT’s notice, Santosh Kumar appeared at 3 pm for questioning. The SIT sought more information on the reasons for appointing main accused T. Prabhakar Rao as the special intelligence bureau chief.

Investigators said he was examined as a person acquainted with certain facts and circumstances related to the phone-tapping case. The SIT also asked him whether he knew about the unauthorised phone-tapping.

The Congress had earlier accused the BRS leadership of indulging in theatrics to divert public attention from the ongoing phone-tapping probe. Speaking to the media at Gandhi Bhavan, Sama Rammohan Reddy, chairman of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee Media and Communications Committee, alleged that former ministers Harish Rao and Rama Rao were resorting to diversionary tactics to shift focus away from the probe.

The case pertains to allegations of illegal interception of phones of more than 600 persons, including opposition leaders — among them Revanth Reddy — judges, journalists and film personalities. The main accused in the case is former SIB chief T. Prabhakar Rao, along with several other police officials, who were earlier arrested for allegedly tampering with and destroying evidence linked to the surveillance operations.

The case was booked by SIT based on a complaint filed by G. Chakradhar Goud of Siddipet district with the Panjagutta police for criminal breach of trust, causing disappearance of evidence after committing offence, giving false information to investigation agency, screenng an offender. public servant knowingly disobeying law, mischief causing damage, crimes committed by several persons in furtherance of a common intention and damaging/destroying government property.

The case was booked under Section 3 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property (PDPP) Act, and Sections 65, 66, 66(F)(1)(B)(2) and 70166, 409, 427, 201 and 120(B) read with 34 of the IPC of the Information Technology Act.

Main accused T. Prabhakhar Rao and his team misled the review committee, which has to approve interception operations, by misreporting phone numbers. Prabhakar Rao as head of the special intelligence bureau (SIB) during the BRS government tenure, had tapped the phones of politicians, business persons, actors, judges and media persons. He had reportedly told the committee that the numbers belonged to terror and Maoist suspects and needed to be tapped.

The review committee had approved 690 phone numbers for tapping just before the 2023 elections. However, the former SIB officers in all tapped approximately 1,700 phone numbers.

The SIT asked Naveen Chand, intelligence chief when Prabhakar Rao was with the SIB, about the person who gave phone numbers to Prabhakar Rao. “Were you aware of secret war-room set up for phone tapping in various districts,” Naveen Chand was asked. During questioning, Prabhakar Rao reportedly said that he acted on the directions of his senior officers and that his actions were cleared by the review committee set up for the purpose.

Last week, Union minister of state for home Bandi Sanjay Kumar had strongly opposed the state government’s decision to summon Rama Rao and Harish Rao as eyewitnesses rather than accused in the phone-tapping case. He questioned whether the Congress government was attempting to give a clean chit to Rama Rao and his father, KCR. In an informal chat with the media at the BJP state office, Sanjay asked why the leaders were summoned under Section 160 of CrPC, which applies to persons acquainted with facts, instead of Section 41A, used for accused persons. “If BRS leaders are eyewitnesses and not accused or thieves, who are the actual culprits in the phone-tapping case,” he asked.

He alleged ministers were influencing the SIT inquiry and denying it independence. Urging the government to grant the SIT full freedom, Sanjay said the KCR family treated cases of public looting as petty matters. “They remain confident that no matter how much atrocity or corruption they commit, the Congress government won’t act against them,” he added. Sanjay claimed SIT officials told him during his interrogation that his phone was tapped and his number added to a Maoist list. He demanded action against those responsible. He further asserted that phones of BRS MPs, MLAs, heroines and businessmen were tapped and added to Maoist lists, including Chandrashekar Rao’s daughter and son-in-law. “Yet they claim it was for national security,” he said.

Accusing the Congress government of portraying Rama Rao as a victim despite families suffering, Sanjay remarked: “People may have forgotten Nizam’s atrocities, but they won’t forgive KTR, who still shows no remorse.” He demanded a white paper on mine allotments and alleged “Singareni loot” from 2014 to date, charging both BRS and Congress governments responsible for pushing the company into a debt trap. He urged repayment of the Rs 42,000 crore owed to Singareni. Predicting BJP victories in the GHMC elections, Sanjay said both parties were indulging in a blame game and would stage another drama before municipal polls to divert public attention from Singareni.