Ex-Senior Cop's Claims About Telangana Phone-Tap Case, KCR's Party's Role

The list of individuals whose devices were reportedly monitored include Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, and members of the BJP and Congress, as well as those from ex-Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao's BRS.

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.