BRS alleges govt of targeting party leaders without evidence in phone tapping case
BRS has accused Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy of targeting opposition leaders in the phone tapping case, alleging pressure on officials, misuse of police machinery, and surveillance attempts, while demanding a fair and evidence-based investigation into the matter.
Hyderabad: The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) has accused Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy of attempting to implicate opposition leaders in the ongoing phone tapping case. The party has demanded a fair, evidence-based investigation.
Addressing the media at Telangana Bhavan on Thursday, the BRS general secretary RS Praveen Kumar alleged that the government constituted a second Special Investigation Team (SIT) to name BRS leaders, including K Chandrashekhar Rao, KT Rama Rao and T Harish Rao, in the chargesheet. A case was registered at Panjagutta police station based on a complaint by a police official earlier.
He said officials were being pressured to include these names even though the investigation was incomplete. “Over 350 witnesses have been examined in the last two years, yet no chargesheet has been filed so far,” he said.
The former IPS officer stated that phone tapping is carried out legally for national security purposes under any government. However, he alleged that the present case was being used to target opposition leaders.
Praveen Kumar also raised concerns over the treatment of individuals linked to the case. He said former police officer Prabhakar Rao was subjected to harsh custodial conditions. He stated that attempts were being made to extract statements against BRS leaders through coercion. Citing an example, he said a businessman facing multiple cases was being pressured to name BRS MLC Naveen Kumar in another case.
Accusing the government of misusing the police machinery, he said the department was being weakened under political pressure. He also alleged surveillance and hacking attempts targeting BRS leaders, including tampering with CCTV systems and mobile phones, and sought a separate SIT probe into these claims.
Praveen Kumar said he had received alerts from Apple about a possible hacking attempt and had reported it to the Central Crime Station. He cautioned officials against acting under unlawful directives and said BRS leaders would face the cases legally.
