BRS phone tapping case: SIT summons Telangana CM’s brother Kondal Reddy as witness

Hyderabad, Jan 7 The Special Investigation Team (SIT), probing the Telangana phone tapping case, has summoned Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy’s brother Kondal Reddy as a witness.

Kondal Reddy has been asked to appear before SIT officials at Jubilee Hills Police Station at 11 a.m. on Thursday.

Kondal Reddy was among the individuals whose phones were allegedly tapped during the Bharat Rashtra Samithi's (BRS) rule in the state. Revanth Reddy was then president of the Telangana Congress.

The SIT has also issued notices to two more leaders of BRS for questioning. Former MLAs G. Jaipal Yadav and Chirumurathi Lingaiah have been directed to appear on Thursday.

This is the second time that the SIT has summoned the two BRS leaders. Both the former MLAs had appeared before SIT in November 2024.

They were allegedly in communication with Mekala Thirupathanna, suspended Additional Superintendent of Police and an accused in the case.

The SIT had summoned BRS MLC K. Naveen Rao’s father Kondal Rao and BRS MLA Madhavaram Krishna Rao’s son Sandeep Rao on Wednesday. However, they did not appear before the SIT.

Kondal Rao has conveyed to the SIT that he was unable to appear before it because of ill-health. He offered to record his statement at his residence.

The phones of Kondal Rao and Sandeep Rao were also said to be tapped. The phones of dissidents within the then ruling party BRS were also tapped.

MLC Naveen Rao had appeared before SIT on January 4. He was grilled by the officials for nearly eight hours.

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.

The phone tapping case surfaced in March 2024. Deputy Superintendent of Police D Praneeth Rao was the first to be arrested.

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.

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