Hyderabad: In the ongoing probe into the sensational phone-tapping case in Telangana, investigation has revealed that key accused Prabhakar Rao who is currently in the US, formed a special team to spy on the then-opposition leaders and the dissidents in the ruling party in Telangana in his capacity as IG and later as OSD, sources said.
Police have so far arrested four accused in the Telangana phone-tapping case--former Deputy Commissioner of Police at the Commissioner's Task Force, P Radhakrishna Rao, Additional Superintendents of Police (SP) Bhujanga Rao and Thirupathanna, and Deputy SP Praneeth Rao.
Sources associated with the investigation of the case said that during the interrogation of accused Radhakishan Rao, who worked as DCP and OSD of the Hyderabad Task Force, key accused Prabhakar Rao formed a special team to spy on the then-opposition leaders and the dissidents in the ruling party.
Radhakishan Rao, who was arrested last Thursday, revealed during interrogation that suspended DSP Praneeth Rao, one of the accused in the case, was entrusted by key accused Prabhakar Rao with the task of keeping an eye on the rivals of the ruling party based on caste equation.
Pertinently, in 2014, after BRS (then TRS) came to power for the first time in Telangana, Prabhakar Rao was transferred to the Intelligence Department in 2016 as per social class equations. Investigation in the phone-tapping case revealed that Prabhakar Rao appointed people from his community and some of those who had worked with him in the past in different sub-divisions of the surveillance department.
Among them are Praneet Rao from Nalgonda district, Bhujanga Rao from Rachakonda Commissionerate, Venugopal Rao from Cyberabad, Thirupatanna from Hyderabad Commissionerate, and others. Prabhakar Rao included them in the 'Special Operations Team' led by accused Praneeth Rao. Sources said that the team was formed to keep an eye on the leaders of the opposition, their followers, and rebels within the ruling party.
Accused Radhakishan Rao admitted during the interrogation that he was appointed DCP of the task force in 2017 by the BRS leadership to maintain political and other control over Hyderabad city as per Prabhakar Rao's instructions along with social equations.
Radhakishan Rao said that according to his suggestion, the then government appointed Gattumallu as the Task Force CI of Western Mandal. After working there for two years till 2021, Radhakishan Rao disclosed that Prabhakar Rao took Gattumallu into SIB as per his suggestion as part of their common goal (to ensure the continuation of the rule of BRS), sources said.
From then on, Prabhakar Rao, Bhujanga Rao, Venugopal Rao, and Praneeth Rao frequently met to strengthen BRS(then TRS) in the state and ensure that the same party rule continued. In a bid to dodge surveillance, the accused communicated through social media apps such as WhatsApp, Signal, and Snapchat, sources said.
Radhakishan Rao revealed during interrogation that Prabhakar Rao's team thought that their goal was to bring BRS back to power in the 2023 assembly election and ensure that the party leader had full control over the party.
The police have mentioned some key points related to Radhakishan Rao in their remand report. He retired as Task Force DCP in August 2020. Using political clout and caste equations, he convinced the then-government and was appointed as OSD for three years, a tenure which was later extended by another three years.
Sources said that key accused Prabhakar Rao, along with the political leaders of the time, felt that Radhakishan Rao was necessary to maintain their hold on the Hyderabad Commissionerate.
Investigation revealed that as per Prabhakar Rao's instructions, Praneeth Rao conveyed the information regarding the distribution of money during the 2018 elections to Radhakishan Rao. The task force personnel under the command of Radhakishan Rao seized Rs 70 lakhs belonging to Anand Prasad, the head of Bhavya Cements, who contested on behalf of Telugu Desam in the Serilingampally Legislative Assembly constituency at Paradise Hotel in Ramgopalpet police station in Hyderabad
It is learnt that during the Dubbaka by-election in 2020, Praneet Rao's team conducted technical surveillance activities. Based on the inputs by this team, the task force police under the command of Radhakishan Rao seized Rs1 crore cash belonging to a chit fund company in Siddipet linked to the relatives of BJP candidate Raghunandan Rao.
Sources said that accused Praneet Rao conducted technical surveillance during the 2022 Munugodu by-election as per the instructions of Prabhakar Rao. Based on the inputs given by him, the Hyderabad Task Force Police confiscated Rs 3.5 crore from the followers of former BJP candidate Komati Reddy Rajagopal Reddy, namely Gunta Saikumar Reddy, Kunde Mahesh, D. Sandeep Kumar, M. Mahender, A. Anush Reddy and Vennam Bharat and handed it over to the Gandhinagar police.
