BRS leader Harish Rao booked in phone tapping case

Hyderabad (The Uttam Hindu): The phone tapping case in Telangana took a dramatic turn on Tuesday with the police booking former minister T. Harish Rao and others. A case against the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader and others was registered at Panjagutta Police Station in Hyderabad on a complaint by G. Chakradhar Goud, a real estate businessman.

The complainant, who is also the founder of Farmers First Foundation, alleged harassment, threats, and unlawful phone surveillance. Panjagutta Police registered a case under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Section 120(B) (Criminal conspiracy), 386 (Extortion), 409 (Criminal breach of trust), 506 (Criminal intimidation) and Section 66 of the Information Technology Act.

Goud stated in his complaint that Harish Rao developed a grudge against him due to his charitable activities, including financial support to families of farmers who had committed suicide.

The complainant alleged threats, fabricated cases, and unauthorised surveillance of his phone by Harish Rao and associates. A key leader of the BRS, Harish Rao is the nephew of BRS President and former Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao. Goud alleged that he was implicated in multiple fabricated cases including a rape case. He stated that he received threatening messages and was warned to stop his charitable and political activities.

The phone-tapping allegations under the previous BRS government came to light in March this year with the arrest of Deputy Superintendent of Police Praneeth Rao following a complaint from his superior, D. Ramesh, Additional SP with the Special Intelligence Branch (SIB).

Then chief of SIB, Prabhakar Rao had allegedly constituted a team within the SIB with his trusted aides including Praneeth Rao for surveillance of rival political leaders, their families and dissidents within the ruling party, businessmen, journalists and even judges. The police have so far named six accused in the cases. Praneeth Rao, Additional SPs Thirupathanna and Bhujanga Rao and former DCP P. Radha Kishan Rao are in judicial custody.

Prabhakar Rao and Shravan Kumar Rao, MD of a media outlet, are in the United States. The police had last month questioned former MLAs Jaipal Yadav and Chirumarthi Lingaiah in the phone tapping case. The police had summoned them based on call data of the accused arrested in the case.