SIT summons KCR over T’gana phone tapping case

THe special investigating team up ( sit around) of the Hyderabad law probing the alleged speech sound tapping case, that took place during the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) regime, on Thursday served notices to former Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) asking him to appear before the investigating officer for questioning on Friday, but the BRS president sought a fresh date.A team of SIT officials went to KCR’s residence at Nandinagar in Banjara Hills and handed the notice to his personal staff, stating that he should make himself available for questioning at 3pm on Friday.The notice, issued under Section 160 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), said KCR would be questioned as part of the ongoing investigation into alleged illegal surveillance activities during the previous BRS regime.Considering that KCR is above 65 years of age, the SIT has indicated its willingness to question him at his residence itself, in accordance with legal provisions, which discourages summoning senior citizens to police stations.In his reply, the BRS president informed the Investigating Officer that he is pre-occupied with the process of nominations for the February 11 municipal elections as January 30 is the last date for filing nominations.The Investigating Officer may fix any other date for the examination, KCR said.According to the notice, KCR has the option to appear for questioning at his residence in Nandinagar, or at the Jubilee Hills Police Station, if he chooses to come voluntarily, or any other location within Hyderabad city limits that he finds convenient.KCR has sought the examination to be conducted at his “place of residing” (farmhouse) at Erravelli village.A senior police officer familiar with the matter said the SIT has prepared an extensive questionnaire to interrogate the former CM. “The investigation is expected to focus on instructions allegedly issued to intelligence and police officials during KCR’s tenure, the nature and purpose of phone surveillance, and who received or benefited from information allegedly gathered through tapping,” he said.The SIT is reportedly examining whether illegal surveillance was carried out systematically and whether sensitive data was shared with political or administrative authorities.The SIT has already questioned several people, including KCR’s son and BRS working president KT Rama Rao, former minister T Harish Rao and ex-MP Joginalli Santosh Rao.Reacting sharply to the SIT notices to the former chief minister, KTR accused the Congress government of targeting KCR out of political malice.Taking to X, KTR alleged that the Congress government was using investigations as a distraction from its failures to implement pre-election promises. “This is not an inquiry, it is revenge. This is not justice, it is political conspiracy,” KTR said.However, KCR’s daughter and Telangana Jagruthi president K Kavitha hoped that KCR would appear before the investigating agency and present his side of the story. “Illegal phone tapping is a grave violation of democratic rights and personal liberty, and if the government genuinely acknowledges that such surveillance occurred, the probe should have been far more rigorous from the beginning,” she said.Kavitha said for the last two years, the SIT has been probing the case, but there has been no serious, focused investigation that such a serious matter demanded. “Only a transparent and unbiased probe will ensure justice to those who were subjected to this unlawful surveillance. Anything less will raise serious questions about intent,” she asserted.