Hyderabad: A senior police officer’s confession in the Telangana phone tapping case, accusing the previous Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) government of using police machinery to monitor the phone conversations of leaders of Opposition parties, has brought to light the alleged role of former chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao.
The former Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), P. Radhakishan Rao, was arrested in this case last month. The confession was given by him.
Rao was heading the task force wing of Hyderabad police, specialised in dealing with “anti-social” activities.
The statement, a copy of which The Wire has seen, said Rao led all operations on the basis of disclosures from phone tapping like settlement of civil disputes and people creating trouble for the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (now BRS), then chief minister KCR, and his family members. The targeted persons were threatened to fall in line, he said.
The team would suppress any type of dissent, protests, or agitations against the TRS government. “This was because KCR was irritated even by minor criticism against the government.”
A special team, led by inspector D. Praneeth Kumar, was created within the police’s Special Intelligence Bureau. The bureau is headed by T. Prabhakar Rao, who is yet to join the probe as he is away in the US.
This team was involved in the tapping the phones of opposition leaders who created trouble for KCR and the TRS.
Radhakishan Rao, in his confession, said that he used to get a lot of information from Praneeth based on the monitoring of telephonic conversations of KCR’s political opponents, associates, supporters, and their financiers.
Rao went on to say that sometimes, he used to ask Praneeth to route the information through the Police Commissioner, the former’s boss, so that his activities did not raise any suspicion. The Commissioner would naturally assign the job to him.
“So, instructions for any highly important task would go to the Commissioner either from Prabhakar Rao [the Special Intelligence Bureau head] or the chief minister himself.” But the plan of action would already be ready with his team, according to Radhakishan Rao.
The team attended to all important and confidential tasks of the chief minister, his family members, and close associates within the party.
He coordinated with Praneeth in tasks like seizing money of opposition leaders and helping with the transportation of money received from TRS’s fund organisers in the elections.
“The chief minister followed up with Praneeth regularly whether the expected task was completed,” he added.
The KCR links
This practice started prior to the 2018 assembly elections and continued up to the 2023 polls when TRS lost power. It continued during the 2019 parliamentary elections and bypolls to the three assembly seats.
By 2023, his team had gained expertise in executing operations efficiently and systematically, due to the experience gained over the years.
Prabhakar Rao, as the chief of operations in the Special Intelligence Bureau and later Intelligence chief, had built a team of close confidantes. One of its members, Bhujanga Rao, who held the rank of Additional Superintendent of Police, had gained access to the chief minister in his official bungalow, ‘Pragathi Bhavan’.
Radhakishan Rao said he was preferred for the position of DCP, Task Force, because the chief minister wanted a close confidante from his Velama community who could resort to strong-arm tactics to help the party gain control over Hyderabad. The goal was to suppress rivalry against the TRS.
Senior BRS leader and Jangaon MLA, Palla Rajeswara Reddy, dismissed the statement, claiming it was made under duress during police custody. He said that no chief minister would directly engage with lower-level officials. Instead, instructions from the chief minister were typically relayed to the Director General of Police. The home minister was kept in loop in the process.
Former BRS legislator Naradasu Laxman Rao pointed out that the confessional statement made by Radhakishan Rao under Section 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) was not admissible in court. He noted that there was always a possibility that Rao would deny the statement during the trial or claim that his signatures were forcibly taken on pre-published papers.
BJP MP of Karimnagar, Bandi Sanjay Kumar, has demanded notices to be sent to KCR and his son K.T. Rama Rao to appear before investigating officials under Section 41 A of CrPC to explain the charges made against them in the phone tapping case.
He alleged that both the Congress government and the BRS colluded to dilute the issue. This was evident from the issue going off public discussion.
Meanwhile, the police have filed a petition in a Hyderabad court Friday (May 3) seeking a warrant for the arrest of Prabhakar Rao under Section 73 of the CrPC. Identified as the main accused in the case, he is evading arrest by residing in the US.
The police have proposed issuing a red corner notice against him once the court issues the arrest warrant.
