BRS MLC Naveen Rao appears before SIT in phone-tapping case

Hyderabad, Jan 4 The Special Investigation Team (SIT), probing the Telangana phone tapping case, summoned BRS MLC K. Naveen Rao for questioning.

The Member of Legislative Council (MLC) appeared before SIT officials at Jubilee Hills Police Station on Sunday.

The SIT notice to Naveen Rao has come amid reports that the SIT is likely to summon former Chief Minister and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) President K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) and BRS Working President K. T. Rama Rao for questioning.

There are allegations that Naveen Rao was in touch with Praneeth Rao and Sravan Kumar, both accused in the case.

Naveen had denied the allegations, saying that they are part of a political campaign aimed at tarnishing his reputation.

The MLC had also expressed his readiness to prove the allegations wrong. Naveen claimed that he had never spoken to the accused in the case in person or even on the phone.

Naveen has been summoned by SIT as the investigation into the alleged phone tapping during the BRS regime entered a crucial stage.

Last month, the SIT questioned former Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB) chief T. Prabhakar Rao, the prime accused in the phone-tapping case.

The former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, questioned by the SIT for two weeks after the Supreme Court had ordered him to surrender, was released on December 26.

The SIT is scheduled to submit its report on the custodial interrogation of Rao to the Supreme Court on January 16.

The nine-member fresh SIT constituted by the Telangana government on December 18 questioned Prabhakar Rao.

SIT has also recorded the statements of the then Director General of Police Mahender Reddy, former intelligence chiefs Naveen Chand and Anil Kumar, and the then Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar.

The panel also grilled other accused – former Task Force DCP T. Radha Kishan Rao, Additional SP Mekala Thirupathanna and a television channel owner N. Sravan Kumar.

The SIT officials also quizzed Prabhakar Rao in the presence of another accused and former DSP D. Praneeth Rao.

The phone tapping case first surfaced on March 10, when D. Ramesh, the Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) of the SIB, registered a complaint with the police, accusing Deputy Superintendent of Police D Praneeth Rao of illegal phone tapping.

On March 13, 2024, the police arrested Praneeth Rao, and further investigations revealed a large-scale surveillance operation targeting various individuals, including political opponents, businessmen, journalists, and even judges.

The police have named six accused in the case, including former SIB chief Prabhakar Rao, DSP Praneeth Rao, Additional SPs Thirupathanna and N. Bhujanga Rao and former DCP Radha Kishan Rao, besides Sravan Kumar, a television channel owner.

Prabhakar Rao has been accused of orchestrating the illegal surveillance of several prominent individuals during the BRS rule. He had allegedly constituted a special team in the SIB to tap the phones of those working against the BRS government.

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