Former Intel bureau chief accused of Telangana phone hacking case

Hyderabad:

Former Telangana Intelligence Bureau chief T Prabhakhar Rao has been named as the first accused in the phone hacking case that has roiled the state ahead of the general elections.

According to reports, Rao, who is currently in the United States, ordered the illegal tapping of the phones of opposition leaders during the early BRS government led by K Chandrashekar Rao, collecting a large amount of electronic data. A lookout notice has been issued in his name.

Rao’s home in Hyderabad was raided along with nearly a dozen other locations, including the residence of Shravan Rao, who runs Telugu television channel I News.

Sharvan Rao (also believed to be abroad) allegedly helped install phone-tapping equipment (from Israel) and servers at a local school.

Another police officer Radha Kishan Rao, who served in the city’s special task force, has also been named as an accused and a lookout notice has been issued to him.

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

Three of them – additional superintendents of police Bhujanga Rao and Thirupathanna, and deputy superintendent of police Praneeth Rao – have been arrested. Police said Bhujanga Rao and Thirupathanna, who were arrested last week, admitted to illegally spying on private individuals and destroying evidence.

Read | Ex-Telangana policeman arrested for tapping opposition leader’s phone

Praneeth Rao was arrested earlier this month and charged with developing profiles of unknown persons and monitoring their activities in an unauthorized manner, as well as damaging certain computer systems and storing on electronic devices The data.

The evidence was reportedly destroyed on the orders of Prabhakar Rao; the order was allegedly given a day after the Congress defeated the BRS in the 2023 elections.

Read | Arrested Telangana policeman says he destroyed Intel on boss’s orders

The list of individuals whose devices were reportedly monitored includes Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, BJP and Congress MPs, and BRS members of former Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao . There were also reports that Telugu actors and businessmen were also under surveillance and many of them were blackmailed.

Sources said more than a hundred thousand phone calls were tapped.

Mr Reddy vowed action and called Mr Rao “the Qasim Riz of today”. “The specifics of the conspiracy are still under investigation, but there are many clues to be uncovered…,” he told New Delhi TV.

All told, at least 30 police officers are likely to be investigated as this can of worms is opened.

There are even rumors that BRS leaders may be implicated, which will put the former chief minister’s party in the spotlight just days before the general elections.

The Telangana NIA is supposed to keep a close watch on left-wing extremism, but a team is reportedly gathering political intelligence and details of the dealings of opposition leaders, sources told New Delhi TV.

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