Hyderabad:

Phones of about 1,200 people, including political rivals, their family members and supporters, judges, journalists, and business persons were tapped by a special team in Telangana’s Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB) under the previous BRS government, according to a suspended police officer and a key accused in the sensational phone tapping case.

D. Praneeth Rao, who headed the Special Operations Team in the SIB under the supervision of then SIB chief Prabhakar Rao, made some sensational revelations in his confession before the investigating officials.

He revealed that ahead of the November 2023 Assembly elections, the team snooped on leaders of opposition parties, and their funders and intercepted the vehicles transferring money.

The confession of Praneeth Rao, a Deputy Superintendent of Police in the SIB, came to light after similar statements of former Deputy Commissioner of Police Radha Kishan Rao and Additional Superintendents of Police N. Bhujanga Rao and M. Thirupathanna.

Praneeth Rao revealed that they prepared profiles of political rivals of the BRS with the help of a technological tool, provided by a private company.

Praneeth Rao, the first to be arrested in the case which came to light in March after the Congress formed the government, stated that 17 computers and special servers were used for phone tapping. As many as 56 personnel of the SOT were used for the operation.

He reportedly confessed to doing certain unofficial works as he was indebted to Prabhakar Rao for promoting him as DSP. He was operating from two rooms allotted to him next to Prabhakar Rao’s chamber in the SIB office.

Before the 2023 Assembly elections, the team also tapped the phones of candidates of rival parties and seized money from their funders, relatives and aides. The information was passed on to police officials Radha Kishan Rao, Bhujanga Rao and Thirupathanna so they could intercept the money. The seized money was shown as hawala money so that the Election Commission did not get suspicious about the seizures.

Praneeth Rao also revealed that the phones of dissidents within the ruling party were also tapped. He also confessed that after Congress came to power, Prabhakar Rao directed him to stop phone tapping and also allegedly directed him to destroy records before his resignation. He claimed that 50 hard discs were destroyed with a cutter in the SIB office and old servers were replaced with new ones.

When he wanted to switch off CCTV cameras in the logger room before destroying the hard discs, the in charge of CCTV cameras refused to give permission but he told him that Prabhakar Rao had given the orders and warned that if the in charge failed to obey, a memo would be issued.

Praneeth Rao stated that he destroyed the evidence between 7.30 p.m. and 8.15 p.m. on December 4, 2023. He dumped the destroyed CDs in the Musi River at Nagole and Moosaram Bagh. The CDR and IDPR equipment was burnt down. Reformatted phones and pen drivers were thrown in the Begumpet nala.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Hyderabad:

In an explosive revelation in the Telangana phone tapping and snooping row, ex-Deputy Commissioner of Police P Radhakrishna Rao has claimed devices belonging to media industry bigwigs, retired cops, and politicians (including from then-ruling BRS) were hacked and monitored.

This was allegedly part of a well-funded and secretive team set up before the November state election to keep tabs on then Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s political rivals. The snooping operation was supposed to create a dossier to manage possible threats; in a twist, Mr Rao’s BRS was thumped by the Congress anyway, winning only 39 (down from 88 in 2018) of the state’s 119 seats.

Arrested on March 29 from his home in Hyderabad’s Banjara Hills, Mr Rao has reportedly admitted to former colleagues that he was part of this alleged illegal enterprise, which may have snooped on a prominent people, including media personalities Narendra Choudary of NTV and Vemuri Radhakrishna of ABN, retired police officer RS Praveen Kumar, sitting Warangal MP Kadiyam Srihari, and former BRS minister Patnam Mahender Reddy and his wife, Sunita Reddy. Patnam Mahender Reddy has now shifted to the Congress and was the party’s candidate for the Malkajgiri seat in the 2024 election.

Opposition party leaders – such as the Congress’ Saritha Thirupathaiah, who contested and lost the Gadwal Assembly seat last year to the BRS’ BK Mohan Reddy – were reportedly also targeted.

Radhakrishna Rao reportedly also claimed T Prabhakar Rao, then chief of the Special Intelligence Bureau, was in charge of the op, which gathered data on anyone who seemed to be a threat to the then-ruling BRS. Once an individual was flagged, the Intelligence Bureau’s deputy chief, Praneeth Kumar, was reportedly tasked with creating profiles to manage possible ‘threats’ to the BRS’ hold on power.

The alleged snooping did not only target political leaders or public figures. Mr Rao said businesspersons in the real estate and construction industries were also tracked to establish their affiliations.

As rumours of the snooping spread, bureaucrats, members of judiciary, and political figures avoided direct phone calls and, instead, used encrypted messaging services like WhatsApp and Signal.

READ | Ex-Intel Bureau Chief Is Accused No 1 In Phone-Tapping Row

In response, Prabhakar Rao and his group allegedly tracked communications over internet calls by acquiring and examining Internet Protocol Data Records (IPDRs). This has now triggered fresh moral and legal concerns over the use of public resources and technology for personal or political gain.

One particularly unsettling aspect concerned iNews journalist Sravan Kumar.

According to Mr Rao, Mr Kumar spoke directly T Prabhakar Rao during the state election in October and November last year; this meeting is said to have been at the request of the T Harish Rao, a BRS leader who was then a member of the cabinet and is nephew of ex-Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.

Information about opposition leaders and their financial backers was reportedly sent to the Intelligence Bureau via Mr Kumar, and this was used to target rivals during cash seizure ops. Mr Kumar reportedly also helped Praneeth Kumar wage trolling campaigns against the BRS’ detractors.

Radhakrishna Rao made other startling claims in April.

READ | Senior Cop Arrested In Telangana Phone Tap Row Makes Big Claim

He alleged cash had been moved in official vehicles in the 2018 and 2023 Assembly polls, and gave the Munugode by-poll as an example. He claimed Rs 3.5 crore had been confiscated from people linked to Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy, who contested the by-poll on a BJP ticket. He lost to the BRS’ KP Reddy but then jumped to the Congress for the 2023 election and won the seat.

The Telangana phone-tapping case involves the alleged gathering of electronic data not just for political intelligence, but to blackmail leaders, and even private companies and Tollywood celebrities.

Congress leader N Uttam Kumar Reddy told NDTV all this happened with the knowledge of the leadership of the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government. “It is only a matter of time before they (BRS) leaders come under the ambit of the investigation,” Mr Reddy said.

READ | Those Involved In Phone-Tapping Will Be Jailed, Warns Revanth Reddy

Several other Telangana police officers are being investigated in connection with this case.

The list of individuals whose devices were reportedly monitored include Congress leader and current Chief Minister Revanth Reddy. As many as one lakh phone calls were reportedly tapped.