Senior Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) leader and former minister in the K Chandrashekar Rao government, T Harish Rao, has been named in an FIR related to alleged phone tapping.
Harish, who is also KCR’s nephew, is accused of being involved in a political vendetta against G Chakradhar Goud, a real estate dealer from Siddipet and founder of the Farmers First Foundation.
Also Read:CJI Sanjiv Khanna recuses from hearing pleas against exclusion of CJI from panel to select CEC, ECs
Goud, who has been actively supporting distressed farmers, lodged a complaint at the Panjagutta police station on December 1. According to the complaint, his initiative of helping the families of farmers, particularly those who committed suicide, sparked political rivalry with Harish Rao, leading to threats and surveillance of his phones. Goud claims he found an alert on his iPhone indicating the surveillance.
The complaint further alleges that Goud’s charitable activities, including distributing financial aid to farmer families, became a point of contention when he organised events without inviting Harish Rao, despite Siddipet being the minister’s home constituency. Goud said this led to Harish Rao bearing a grudge against him as his popularity grew among the local population.
In the FIR, Goud accused Harish Rao and others of criminal conspiracy, extortion, criminal breach of trust, criminal intimidation, and phone tapping under Section 66 of the IT Act.
The Panjagutta police are also investigating the Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB), which allegedly tapped phones on the BRS’s orders during its tenure in power.
The case has escalated following the arrest of several officers, including former Deputy SP D Praneeth Rao, ex-Additional Superintendents of Police N Bhujanga Rao and M Thirupatanna, and former DCP of Task Force P Radhakishan Rao, who are involved in the first phone tapping case. Retired IPS officer T Prabhakar Rao, the former head of the SIB, is the prime accused in the ongoing investigation.
Goud, who had joined the BJP in anticipation of a ticket for the Siddipet seat but later quit and joined the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) after being denied, now faces political attacks from various quarters.
