"National Security Issue": Telangana High Court Takes Suo Moto Cognizance Of Alleged Phone Tapping Operation During BRS Govt Regime

The Telangana High Court has initiated suo moto proceedings into the illegal phone-tapping operation conducted during the reign of the BRS Government.

A special Bench comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Vinod Kumar took up the matter following a new article published in the Deccan Chronicle which revealed that apart from rival politicians, notable High Court judges including Justice Sarath Khaja had become the target of the phone tapping scam.

While issuing notice and granting 3 weeks for a reply, the Bench noted:

"It's a matter of great concern. As an institution we are all concerned by it. It's not just a case of simple phone tapping, It has infringed upon the Right to Privacy. The issue is of National Security."

Background

The issue came to light in December of 2023, after Congress won the elections and came to power within the State of Telangana.

The main culprit in the crime and the then SIB Chief T Prabhakar Rao (A1) is said to have orchestrated the privacy breach.

It was stated that T Prabhakar Rao monitored and tapped the phones of High Court Judges according to the confession statements of Bhujanga Rao (A3) and that other Officers accused in the case- Mekala Tirupathanna, D Praneeth Rao SIB DSP and task force former DCP G Radha Krishan Rao (A5) that Bhujanga Rao and Tirupatanna on March 30 revealed to the SIT that after they had received instructions from Prabhakar Rao they had used devices meant to track terrorist units to tap into the mobile phones of TPCC president A Revanth Reddy, his brother Kondal Reddy, the then Opposition Leaders Uttam Kumar Reddy Ponguleti Srinaivas Reddy and others.

According to sources, Praneeth Rao (A2) collected details about the personal lives of Judges, as well as political leaders and put them under GPS surveillance to track them.

The investigation further revealed that whenever the BRS faced protests the then SIBs special operations team used to bring under surveillance important leaders and associates who were leading the protests or leveling criticism against the party.

Bhujanga Rao in his confession also revealed that the phones of Student Leaders and Journalists were tapped. That they tapped the phones of the family members of Opposition Leaders Phone tapping was also done during the byelections to Dubbaka Huzurnagar and Munugode and the GHMC elections.

The Investigation also revealed that in October 2023, the Election Commission transferred Radha Krishan Rao (A5) and many others ahead of the Assembly elections.

Bhujanga Rao (A3) stated that after that they planned to bring the BRS to power for the third time. They started full fledged civil dispute settlements.

Many disputes involving prominent companies and businessmen had been settled under the instructions of BRS leaders.

It was stated that large amount of money was moved from two private hospitals and money was taken in task force vehicles as per the orders of BRS leaders before the elections.

A3's confession also brought to light that realtor Sandhya Sridhar Rao was made to buy Rs 13 Crore worth electoral bonds and was threatened with criminal cases if he refused to do so and he also revealed that special arrangements were made for the Kamareddy Assembly election where then Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao was a contestant.

It was pointed out that they put special surveillance on BJP candidates Venkatrami Reddy and Revanth Reddy's brother Kondal Reddy

Based on information from phone tapping and GPS location the police officials seized hundreds of crores worth of money from opposite party leaders.

According to the confession statements Mekala Tirupathanna also confessed that he along with Praneeth Rao destroyed all the data after the Congress won power.

All the data in his three computers along with nine loggers were destroyed which erased information on Maoists stored from decades Tirupathanna said that Prabhakar Rao and Bhujanga Rao had ordered raids where money of BRS rivals was being transported.

SuoMotuWP 2 of 2024