The alleged confession of a former police officer and three suspended officers arrested in this case has triggered a war of words between the ruling Congress, BRS and BJP.
The confession of the accused has revealed shocking details of the phone tapping operation conducted by the state Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB) under the previous BRS government.
Revelations about the modus operandi aimed at ensuring a third term for BR in the assembly elections, the targeting of spying and the alleged misuse of official machinery to cut financial aid to the opposition and 'compromise' in disputes have created turmoil in the state. Has created a stir. Politics: The confessions, allegedly recorded in March-April, have come to light over the last four days.It started with the confession of former Deputy Commissioner of Police (Tas Force) P. Radha Kishan Rao.
He revealed that the then Congress MP and current Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, a dissident within the BRS, businessman and journalist was the target of phone tapping. He claimed that the then SIB chief T. Prabhakar Rao was in charge of the entire operation, which was aimed at defeating the K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR)-led government. The objective was to collect data on anyone who appeared to be a threat.
He revealed that once a person was identified, the Deputy Chief of the Intelligence Bureau, Praneet Kumar, was reportedly tasked with creating profiles to neutralize potential threats to the government.
He also made the sensational claim that KCR and BJP national general secretary B.L. Wanted to arrest.Santosh is pressurizing for a settlement in the BRS MLA horse-trading case and his daughter K. Getting rid of the Enforcement Directorate case against Kavitha. The former policeman revealed that in the last week of October 2022, the then SIB chief Prabhakar Rao had discussed with him that CM KCR had received information from an MLA Pilo Rohit Reddy that BJP Some people claiming to be influential in the US have been in touch with him, and are asking him to do the same. Leave BRS and join BJP with some more MLAs.
KCR wanted to use this to corner BJP and asked SIB to keep surveillance on those private persons and the MLA. According to the plan, the MLA lured private people to come to a farm house near Moinabad, where spy cameras were installed.
Radha Kishan Rao revealed that KCR could not succeed in his plan to arrest Santosh due to the incompetence of some Cyberabad police officers.A day after the statement of the former DCP, the confession of Additional Superintendent of Police Bhujanga Rao and Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Tirupathan also came to light.
Both the officers, who previously worked in the SIB, alleged that disputes between companies, traders and VIPs were settled at the behest of BRS leaders. The phones of not only opposition leaders, their family members, student leaders and journalists but even judges were tapped.
"The SOT under Praneet Kumar in the SIB is directly supervised by Prabhakar Rao and is used to monitor and monitor student union leaders and caste organization leaders who are critical of the BRS government, journalists and the High Court. Judges and lawyers handling important cases of the government, leaders of a party etc. were asked to get more information about their personal lives and their activities so that they could be influenced or countered at the appropriate time ,'' Bhujanga Rao, who is also a high court judge, said.Officials claimed that during the elections, including the recent assembly elections held in November 2023, funders of the Congress and the BJP were monitored and money was taken from them. Cash was seized.He also alleged that businessmen in the real estate and construction sectors were pressurized to provide financial support to BRS.
A realtor was forced to buy electoral bonds worth Rs 13 crore. The SOT also conducted surveillance on businessmen, companies and VIPs who clashed with their rivals and were 'compromised' through alleged blackmailing tactics.
Praneet Rao, who played a key role in the phone tapping operation, reportedly claimed that the phones of around 1,200 people, including political rivals, his family members and supporters, judges, journalists and business persons were tapped.
He revealed that he prepared profiles of BRS's political rivals with the help of technical tools provided by a private company.Praneet Rao, who was the first person to be arrested in the case which came to light in March after the Congress party came to power, said 17 computers and special servers were used for phone tapping. 56 SOT personnel were deployed in the operation.
He also confessed that after Congress came to power, Prabhakar Rao had instructed him to stop phone tapping. He also allegedly instructed him to destroy the records before his resignation.
After the confession of the accused, BJP demanded the arrest of KCR and a CBI inquiry into the entire matter.BJP MP K. Laxman accused Revanth Reddy of withdrawing from the case on the instructions of the high command.
He said, "Phone tapping and misuse of police machinery by KCR is not a common crime but an anti-national act, which should not be forgiven. Anti-nationals should not be spared."
Reiterating the allegation that Congress and BRS are two sides of the same coin, Laxman believed that BRS would join the India faction any time after the elections. BJP general secretary Bandi Sanjay Kumar called KCR's actions an insult to democracy. .
“The phone tapping done under the BRS regime is worse than the Emergency,” he said.This is a violation of constitutional and human rights." He said that KCR's fear of BJP has now come to the fore.
The BJP leader believes BRS is ineligible to hold any constitutional post, including that of chief MLA, and should be banned from contesting elections. Why is the Congress government not arresting KCR, despite clear evidence? Main Accused Prabhakar Rao has not been brought back from America yet? J asked.
However, BRS accused the Congress government of selectively leaking information on the alleged phone tapping issue to drag its leaders into the issue.
Former minister S. Niranjan Reddy wondered how the investigating officers could proceed to link BRS leaders to the issue.He said, "If phone tapping has taken place, it must have been done as part of the system." He alleged that the government was leaking information in a mischievous manner.
He warned that if the campaign to defame the BRS leader continued, the party would take legal recourse.
The BRS leader asked whether it was not true that phone tapping had taken place during the reign of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. He claimed that KCR's phone was also allegedly tapped during the peak of the Telangana agitation.He objected to Chief Minister Revanth Reddy's comment that KC should undergo a lie detector test in the phone tapping case.
Niranjan Reddy said, “It is ridiculous that the Chief Minister, who was earlier caught red-handed trying to buy off an elected representative before the council elections, is taking a proper decision on the phone tapping issue."
The confession of the accused has revealed shocking details of the phone tapping operation conducted by the state Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB) under the previous BRS government.
Revelations about the modus operandi aimed at ensuring a third term for BR in the assembly elections, the targeting of spying and the alleged misuse of official machinery to cut financial aid to the opposition and 'compromise' in disputes have created turmoil in the state. Has created a stir. Politics: The confessions, allegedly recorded in March-April, have come to light over the last four days.It started with the confession of former Deputy Commissioner of Police (Tas Force) P. Radha Kishan Rao.
He revealed that the then Congress MP and current Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, a dissident within the BRS, businessman and journalist was the target of phone tapping. He claimed that the then SIB chief T. Prabhakar Rao was in charge of the entire operation, which was aimed at defeating the K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR)-led government. The objective was to collect data on anyone who appeared to be a threat.
He revealed that once a person was identified, the Deputy Chief of the Intelligence Bureau, Praneet Kumar, was reportedly tasked with creating profiles to neutralize potential threats to the government.
He also made the sensational claim that KCR and BJP national general secretary B.L. Wanted to arrest.Santosh is pressurizing for a settlement in the BRS MLA horse-trading case and his daughter K. Getting rid of the Enforcement Directorate case against Kavitha. The former policeman revealed that in the last week of October 2022, the then SIB chief Prabhakar Rao had discussed with him that CM KCR had received information from an MLA Pilo Rohit Reddy that BJP Some people claiming to be influential in the US have been in touch with him, and are asking him to do the same. Leave BRS and join BJP with some more MLAs.
KCR wanted to use this to corner BJP and asked SIB to keep surveillance on those private persons and the MLA. According to the plan, the MLA lured private people to come to a farm house near Moinabad, where spy cameras were installed.
Radha Kishan Rao revealed that KCR could not succeed in his plan to arrest Santosh due to the incompetence of some Cyberabad police officers.A day after the statement of the former DCP, the confession of Additional Superintendent of Police Bhujanga Rao and Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Tirupathan also came to light.
Both the officers, who previously worked in the SIB, alleged that disputes between companies, traders and VIPs were settled at the behest of BRS leaders. The phones of not only opposition leaders, their family members, student leaders and journalists but even judges were tapped.
"The SOT under Praneet Kumar in the SIB is directly supervised by Prabhakar Rao and is used to monitor and monitor student union leaders and caste organization leaders who are critical of the BRS government, journalists and the High Court. Judges and lawyers handling important cases of the government, leaders of a party etc. were asked to get more information about their personal lives and their activities so that they could be influenced or countered at the appropriate time ,'' Bhujanga Rao, who is also a high court judge, said.Officials claimed that during the elections, including the recent assembly elections held in November 2023, funders of the Congress and the BJP were monitored and money was taken from them. Cash was seized.He also alleged that businessmen in the real estate and construction sectors were pressurized to provide financial support to BRS.
A realtor was forced to buy electoral bonds worth Rs 13 crore. The SOT also conducted surveillance on businessmen, companies and VIPs who clashed with their rivals and were 'compromised' through alleged blackmailing tactics.
Praneet Rao, who played a key role in the phone tapping operation, reportedly claimed that the phones of around 1,200 people, including political rivals, his family members and supporters, judges, journalists and business persons were tapped.
He revealed that he prepared profiles of BRS's political rivals with the help of technical tools provided by a private company.Praneet Rao, who was the first person to be arrested in the case which came to light in March after the Congress party came to power, said 17 computers and special servers were used for phone tapping. 56 SOT personnel were deployed in the operation.
He also confessed that after Congress came to power, Prabhakar Rao had instructed him to stop phone tapping. He also allegedly instructed him to destroy the records before his resignation.
After the confession of the accused, BJP demanded the arrest of KCR and a CBI inquiry into the entire matter.BJP MP K. Laxman accused Revanth Reddy of withdrawing from the case on the instructions of the high command.
He said, "Phone tapping and misuse of police machinery by KCR is not a common crime but an anti-national act, which should not be forgiven. Anti-nationals should not be spared."
Reiterating the allegation that Congress and BRS are two sides of the same coin, Laxman believed that BRS would join the India faction any time after the elections. BJP general secretary Bandi Sanjay Kumar called KCR's actions an insult to democracy. .
“The phone tapping done under the BRS regime is worse than the Emergency,” he said.This is a violation of constitutional and human rights." He said that KCR's fear of BJP has now come to the fore.
The BJP leader believes BRS is ineligible to hold any constitutional post, including that of chief MLA, and should be banned from contesting elections. Why is the Congress government not arresting KCR, despite clear evidence? Main Accused Prabhakar Rao has not been brought back from America yet? J asked.
However, BRS accused the Congress government of selectively leaking information on the alleged phone tapping issue to drag its leaders into the issue.
Former minister S. Niranjan Reddy wondered how the investigating officers could proceed to link BRS leaders to the issue.He said, "If phone tapping has taken place, it must have been done as part of the system." He alleged that the government was leaking information in a mischievous manner.
He warned that if the campaign to defame the BRS leader continued, the party would take legal recourse.
The BRS leader asked whether it was not true that phone tapping had taken place during the reign of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. He claimed that KCR's phone was also allegedly tapped during the peak of the Telangana agitation.He objected to Chief Minister Revanth Reddy's comment that KC should undergo a lie detector test in the phone tapping case.
Niranjan Reddy said, “It is ridiculous that the Chief Minister, who was earlier caught red-handed trying to buy off an elected representative before the council elections, is taking a proper decision on the phone tapping issue."
