Former Minister Harish Rao Questioned in Phone Tapping Scandal: SIT Grills BRS Leader for 7 Hours
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The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Hyderabad police questioned former minister T Harish Rao for nearly seven hours on Tuesday, as part of their probe into allegations of phone-tapping during the previous Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) regime. Harish Rao, a senior BRS leader, was served notices on Monday to appear for questioning in the case. He was grilled by SIT authorities, including assistant commissioner of police P Venkatagiri and superintendent of police M Ravinder Reddy, at Jubilee Hills police station. Tight security was in place at the station to prevent any law-and-order issues. Harish Rao's legal counsel was not allowed to accompany him inside the station, leading to a tense situation. A large number of BRS leaders and cadre gathered outside, raising slogans against the Congress government and Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy for targeting Harish Rao. The SIT has gathered evidence suggesting that Harish Rao played a key role in overseeing phone tapping operations during the previous BRS government. According to sources, snooping was done on over 600 political rivals of the BRS during the 2003 assembly elections. The case has been under investigation for nearly two years, with a case registered in March 2024 alleging that phones belonging to political leaders, businessmen, and even members of the judiciary were illegally tapped. Reacting to the questioning, Harish Rao claimed that he would not be intimidated by what he described as 'hollow threats' from the Congress government. Harish Rao maintained that he had committed no wrongdoing and cooperated fully with the investigation. He also pointed out that the Supreme Court had dismissed a Special Leave Petition related to the phone tapping case. Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president Mahesh Kumar Goud said that no individual involved in the phone tapping case would be spared, irrespective of their political position.
