Harish booked for allegedly tapping Cong leader’s phone

Hyderabad: The Punjagutta police booked a case against ex-minister and BRS MLA T Harish Rao, DCP Task Force Radha Kishan, and others for allegedly tapping the phone of a real-estate businessman and Congress leader G Chakradhar Goud. Chakradhar alleged that his phone was tapped by the accused persons.

The case was booked under Sections 120B, 386, 409, and 506 read with 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 66 of the IT Act-2008. In a complaint, Chakradhar stated that during the election campaign, when he contacted his followers for meetings and rallies, many of them informed him that they had received threatening calls warning them not to attend his events.

He stated that the individuals were also reported that the caller knew about their conversations and contact details, which led him to suspect that his phone was being tapped.

The complainant, Chakradhar, is also the founder of the Farmers First Foundation. Chakradhar stated in his complaint that Harish Rao developed a grudge against him due to his charitable activities, including financial support to families of farmers who had committed suicide. He stated that he received threatening messages and was warned to stop his charitable and political activities.

Chakradhar suspected that the MLA influenced police officials to monitor his activities. “Following directions from Harish Rao, a false case was also booked against me, after which I was arrested and later remanded to judicial custody and got bail after 10 days,” he said. “Subsequently, I began receiving threatening messages on my mobile phone from unknown numbers,” he added.

In the complaint, he stated, “In light of the above, I request you take appropriate legal action against Harish Rao, Radha Kishan Rao, and others involved in these unlawful activities.” Following the complaint, both Harish Rao and Radha Kishan were booked.

Additionally, two former BRS MLAs, Jaipal Yadav and Chirumarthi Lingaiah, were questioned by police last month in connection with the phone-tapping case.

The Hyderabad police have been investigating the case and had arrested four police officials now suspended since March 13 for allegedly erasing intelligence data from various electronic gadgets. The former chief of the Telangana Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB) and another accused are still absconding and are suspected to be in the US.