Telangana phone tapping case: SIT asks KCR to be present at residence in Hyderabad for questioning on Feb 1

The notice read, “Considering your age and in view of the provision of section 160 CrPC, the undersigned had offered to undertake the investigation at your residential address as per records…The request for examination at a place which is not your official residence as per official records cannot be acceded to, as the venue of examination is determined with reference to the ordinary place of residence reflected in official records.” According to the SIT, the former CM’s official residence, as per an election affidavit and a Writ petition filed by him, is the one in Nandi Nagar.

The notice further said, “As the examination involves reference to many electronic and physical records which are sensitive in nature, it would be administratively difficult to transport the same to Erravalli village. You are therefore requested to make yourself available at your residence in Hyderabad for examination…”

After the SIT sent him its first notice on Thursday, KCR had replied that the team could examine him “at his station of residence”, which is the Erravalli farmhouse. Also, in view of nominations being filed for municipal and corporation elections, he should be examined at a later “convenient” date and not January 30, KCR had said in his reply.

In Thursday’s notice, the SIT had asked KCR to appear before it to record his statement regarding the alleged tapping of phones when his Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government was in power in Telangana. It had asked KCR to record his statement on January 30 at 3 pm.

The first notice was served at KCR’s residence at Nandi Nagar under CrPC section 160, which empowers an investigating officer to formally summon someone. KCR’s summons had come after the SIT recorded the statements of his son, K T Rama Rao, and nephews, T Harish Rao and Joginipally Santosh Kumar.

Those accused in the phone tapping case so far are former Special Intelligence Branch (SIB) chief and IPS officer T Prabhakar Rao, Deputy Superintendent of Police D Praneeth Rao, Additional Superintendents of Police M Thirupathanna and N Bhujanga Rao, former Superintendent of Police P Radhakishan Rao, and a TV channel owner, A Shravan Kumar Rao.

SIT sources had earlier told The Indian Express that there is evidence to prove that at least 600 phone numbers, which were tapped by the SIB under Prabhakar Rao, were not related to Left-wing extremism. The SIB was set up in 1990 to track and prevent the activities of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist). SIT sources had also said that the probe has widened to include illegal access to call data records and Internet Protocol data records of thousands of people from different walks of life.

The first notice issued to KCR, signed by P Venkatagiri, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Jubilee Hills Division, claimed that during the course of the investigation, it was revealed that the former CM was acquainted with facts and circumstances relevant to the case. “Your examination is therefore necessary and required for the purpose of further investigation,” the notice said.