Hyderabad, June 17 (IANS) Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President B. Mahesh Kumar Goud on Tuesday appeared as a witness before the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the state police probing illegal phone tapping during the previous BRS regime.

The state Congress chief, who was one of the victims of the phone tapping, will testify before the SIT officials at the Jubilee Hills Police Station

The statement of Goud, who is also a member of the Telangana Legislative Council, is likely to be significant in the ongoing probe.

On a request by the Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) of Jubilee Hills, the TPCC President appeared before him.

Goud, who served as the working president of the TPCC in November 2023, was allegedly a victim of illegal phone tapping during the state Assembly polls when Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) was in power.

The SIT is reported to have prepared a list of 600 people whose phones were tapped under the BRS regime.

Meanwhile, former Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB) chief, T. Prabhakar Rao, the prime accused in the case, once again appeared before the SIT on Tuesday.

Prabhakar Rao had allegedly formed a Special Operations Team under a suspended DSP within the SIB to tap phones of leaders of the opposition parties and some other individuals to benefit the then ruling political party and its leaders.

Prabhakar Rao on Tuesday appeared for the fourth time before the SIT since his return from the US on June 8.

Rao has reportedly confessed that a special team was constituted in the SIB to tap the phones of certain individuals.

The phones of political leaders, businessmen, celebrities, journalists, members of civil society and even judges were allegedly tapped by the team.

The retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer was grilled based on the statements of former deputy superintendent of police D. Praneeth Rao, retired deputy commissioner of police P. Radha Kishan Rao and additional superintendents of police N. Bhujanga Rao and M. Thirupathanna, who were all arrested in the case last year and were recently released on bail.

These officials had earlier told the SIT that they had acted on the instructions of Prabhakar Rao, who was heading the SIB.

After the defeat of BRS in the 2023 elections, Prabhakar Rao had resigned from his post. Hours later, several hard disks from the SIB office reportedly went missing. Praneeth Rao destroyed these hard disks and disposed of them in the Musi River.

The allegations came to light in March last year with the arrest of Praneeth Rao following a complaint from his superior, D. Ramesh, Additional SP with the SIB.

Prabhakar Rao had left for the US just before the case was registered against him.

The Supreme Court on May 29 directed authorities to arrange an emergency travel document to enable Prabhakar Rao to return.

As per an undertaken given to the Supreme Court, Prabhakar Rao returned to India on June 8 and appeared before the SIT the next day.

–IANS

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