Hyderabad, December 18 (IANS). Telangana Police on Thursday formed a new Special Investigation Team (SIT) under the supervision of Hyderabad Police Commissioner VC Sajjanar to probe alleged phone tapping during the previous BRS government.
Director General of Police (DGP) B Shivadhar Reddy issued orders to form a nine-member SIT.
Ramagundam Police Commissioner Amber Kishore Jha, Siddipet Police Commissioner SM Vijay Kumar, Deputy Commissioners of Police (DCP) Rituraj, K Narayana Reddy, Greyhounds Group Commander M Ravinder Reddy, Additional DCP KS Rao, Assistant Commissioner of Police P Venkatagiri, Deputy Superintendent of Police Ch. Sridhar and Nagendra Rao are members of the SIT.
ACP, Jubilee Hills, Venkatagiri, will be the investigating officer. He is leading the investigation into the case registered at Panjagutta police station in March last year.
The DGP’s order states that the SIT will complete the investigation of the case and file the charge sheet as soon as possible.
The development comes a week after former Special Intelligence Bureau chief T. Prabhakar Rao surrendered before the ACP-led SIT.
The retired IPS officer surrendered on December 12, a day after the Supreme Court directed him to surrender for custodial interrogation.
The court passed these orders while hearing the anticipatory bail plea of Prabhakar Rao.
Prabhakar Rao is accused of illegal spying on several prominent individuals during the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) rule. He is accused of forming a special team in SIAB to tap the phones of those working against the BRS government.
It is alleged that the team tapped the phones of Congress and BJP leaders, businessmen, celebrities, journalists, civil society members and even judges.
Allegations of phone tapping came to light in March 2024, when former Deputy Superintendent of Police D Praneeth Rao was arrested following a complaint by his senior.
Later, the police also arrested retired Deputy Commissioner of Police P. Radha Kishan Rao and Additional Superintendents of Police N Bhujanga Rao and M Tirupathanna.
After BRS’s defeat in the 2023 elections, Prabhakar Rao resigned from his post. He had gone to America just before the case was registered against him.
The Supreme Court on May 29, 2025 directed the authorities to arrange for an emergency travel document for the return of Prabhakar Rao. According to an undertaking given to the Supreme Court, Prabhakar Rao returned to India on June 8.
–IANS
AMT/DKP
