During the run-up to the 2023 Assembly elections, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) has found that the Special Operations Team (SOT) of Telanganaโs Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB) has tapped the phones of at least 600 individuals. Many of them belong to political leaders from the opposition.
According to Indian Express sources, the tapping took place from 16th November to 30th November, 2023, the day the Assembly elections were held in the state. โWhile the tapping, according to confessions and investigation into the case, allegedly started in 2018-19, we have evidence that proves that for 15 days before the state assembly elections, at least 600 individuals were placed under surveillance without cause,โ a top-ranked police officer told the Indian Express.
Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president Mahesh Kumar Goud andย BJPย leader and Union Minister for State Bandi Sanjay Kumar have been summoned by the Hyderabadย police to depose. It indicates that their phones may have been under surveillance.
In March 2024, allegations of phone tapping first surfaced when an ASP of SIB lodged an FIR against DSP Praneeth Rao at Hyderabadโs Punjagutta police station. He accused him of using illegal means to gather intelligence.
The Punjagutta police have named six accused in the case. The SIT is set to question former Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB) chief T Prabhakar Rao, alongside Praneeth Rao, ASP M Thirupathanna and N Bhujanga Rao, former DCP T Radha Kishan Rao, and television channel owner N Shravan Kumar. The questioning will likely involve naming individuals whose phones were allegedly tapped.
The Supreme Court has granted Prabhakar Rao relief from arrest till August, while D Praneeth Rao, Bhujanga Rao, M Thirupathanna and T Radha Kishan Rao were arrested and later released on bail. N Shravan Kumar is currently lodged in Chanchalguda jail in a separate case. He, too, has been granted relief from arrest by the Supreme Court in the phone tapping case. The former SIB chief has been questioned several times, including the most recent one on 16th July.
According to sources, a major challenge for the investigators is that every six months, the SIB’s special operation team destroys surveillance records. “The SIB’s job is to investigate left-wing extremism. They only keep surveillance on people linked to the Maoists. In this case, the SIB is accused of keeping surveillance on unconnected individuals for political reasons as well,” the official said.
The surveillance was carried out by misusing Section 419(A) of the Indian Telegraph Rules. The Rules state: โNo direction for the interception of any message or class of messages under sub-section (2) of section 5 of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 (hereinafter referred to as the said (Act)) shall be issued except under an order made by the Secretary to the Government of India in the Ministry of Home Affairs in the case of the Government of India and by the Secretary to the State Government in charge of the Home Department in the case of a State Governmentโ.
A legal expert of the Hyderabad police explained, โThe rules, however, give a relaxation that in the case of emergency or unavoidable circumstances, such order may be made by an officer, not below the rank of a Joint Secretary to the Government of India, who has been duly authorised by the Union Home Secretary or the State Home Secretaryโ.