Focus On Poll Bonds in KTR Grilling; SIT May Call KCR
Rama Rao appeared before the SIT in response to a notice issued to him on Thursday asking him to appear before it for questioning at 11 am on Friday
Hyderabad: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the illegal phone-tapping operation by the previous BRS regime grilled former minister and BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao for nearly eight hours on Friday, with a focus on channelling of funds to the party from different sources including via electoral bonds.
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.
Though there were reports earlier in the day that the SIT had “confronted” Rama Rao with key accused P. Radha Kishan Rao, the BRS leader, speaking later, dismissed them as rumours. Bringing two persons, suspected to have been involved in, or having knowledge of, a crime face to face at the time of questioning is a crucial process in an interrogation.
Official sources told Deccan Chronicle that Kishan Rao was called to the SIT office but joint questioning was not done. “We asked Kishan Rao to be available but as of now we felt there was no need for confrontation,” said a SIT official. The former minister denied the joint questioning and said there were “no other Raos except K.T. Rama Rao” present in the room.
Sources said the SIT officials primarily focused on the top brass of the then-BRS administration providing a list of telephone numbers belonging to politicians within the BRS and outside, apart from business people and celebrities, allegedly to be tapped. Rama Rao said he wanted the officials to provide the names of film actresses on whose phones he was accused of ordering surveillance. “But they had no answer,” Rama Rao pointed out later. SIT officials also informed Rama Rao that they had never “leaked” information to the to media linking him with any actress.
Sources said he feigned ignorance about a few business people but remained silent when the SIT produced call detail records (CDRs) establishing the familiarity between him and the business people. With the recent success in putting together the missing links in the investigation, the SIT confronted Rama Rao with data on purchase of electoral bonds by businessmen and the events and CDR leading up to such purchases.
Earlier, in the morning, the BRS working president reached the Jubilee Hills ACP office, from where the SIT is operating, amid great fanfare. He was accompanied by former minister T. Harish Rao, who was questioned on Wednesday, and T. Srinivas Yadav.
Sources stated that when Rama Rao tried to question the SIT officials and attempted to give a speech, one of the officers politely asked him to cooperate by giving details of what was required for investigation and avoid political speeches.
During the general elections and the bypolls held when the BRS was in power, according to inputs that the SIT had obtained, Radha Kishan Rao was allegedly guided by Rama Rao by sending messages and making calls. During the elections, teams of the commissioner’s task force then led by Radha Kishan Rao had conducted raids at the residences of businessmen and political leaders.
Rama Rao left the SIT office at about 7 pm and headed to BRS Bhavan where he briefly shared details of his questioning with mediapersons.
