SIT summons KCR as phone-tapping probe reaches top rung

Hyderabad: Former chief minister and BRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao has been served a notice by the SIT probing the phone tapping case to appear before investigators at 3 pm on Jan 30 for questioning.Considering his age, the investigators offered KCR the option to either appear at the Jubilee Hills police station or choose any other location within Hyderabad for questioning. "As you are above the age of 65 years, and in strict compliance with the provisions of section 160 of CrPC, you are not required to attend the police station compulsorily," investigation officer K Venkatagiri stated.The notice said the probe so far had found KCR was "acquainted with facts and circumstances relevant to the case", and his examination was therefore "necessary and required for the purpose of further investigation".The notice to KCR comes after days of speculation, bringing the focus squarely onto the former CM in one of the most politically sensitive cases in the state. Over the past 10 days, SIT has examined senior BRS leaders — working president K T Rama Rao, Siddipet MLA T Harish Rao and former Rajya Sabha MP J Santhosh Kumar — as witnesses.The case dates back to March 2024, a few months after Congress assumed office in Telangana. Acting on a complaint lodged by the additional SP (administration) of Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB), Hyderabad police registered a criminal case alleging large-scale illegal phone surveillance during the previous BRS govt.The complaint accused then SIB DSP D Praneeth Rao of destroying hard disks and other sensitive gadgets immediately after BRS lost the Dec 2023 assembly elections.Following the investigation, six persons were named as accused: then SIB chief T Prabhakar Rao, Praneeth Rao, intelligence wing additional SPs N Bhujanga Rao and M Thirupathanna, former task force DCP P Radhakishan Rao, and A Sravan Kumar Rao, a senior executive of a vernacular television channel.Bizmen, leaders' phones tappedThey were charged with illegally intercepting phones of opposition members, businessmen and others during the BRS govt. Barring Prabhakar Rao and Sravan Kumar, the remaining accused were arrested and later released on bail.Among those allegedly kept under illegal surveillance were present CM A Revanth Reddy and his family members, senior BJP member Eatala Rajender, Union minister Bandi Sanjay and Medak MP M Raghunandan Rao, besides several other politicians.To fast-track the probe, state govt constituted a nine-member SIT, headed by Hyderabad police commissioner V C Sajjanar, in the last week of Dec 2025.