The Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB) of the Telangana police allegedly tapped the mobile phones of around 1,200 individuals, including political leaders, social activists, business people, and journalists, during the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) regime led by K Chandrasekhar Rao. This revelation emerged from a confession by Duggyala Praneeth Rao, a suspended deputy superintendent of police, to the Panjagutta police on March 13.
Praneeth Rao, who previously led the special operations team (SOT) in SIB, disclosed that his team, under the direction of former SIB chief T Prabhakar Rao, conducted extensive surveillance on opposition leaders and their supporters. The surveillance involved profiling and monitoring with the assistance of a technological tool provided by Convergence Innovation Labs, Hyderabad.
This high-profile scandal came to light when the Congress government, led by A Revanth Reddy, discovered missing data and replaced hard disks in the SIB’s systems. An internal investigation followed, leading to the suspension and arrest of Praneeth Rao on March 10. His confession led to subsequent arrests of retired deputy commissioner of police P Radha Kishan Rao, and additional superintendents of police N Bhujanga Rao and M Thirupathanna. Meanwhile, Prabhakar Rao, the prime suspect, remains at large, having fled to the United States.
During his confession, Praneeth Rao revealed that the SIB intercepted communications and vehicles of opposition party members, presenting seized funds as hawala money to avoid scrutiny from the Election Commission. Following the assembly elections on November 30, 2023, orders were given to destroy all evidence. On December 4, within a span of 45 minutes, all documentary and electronic evidence was eradicated, including the destruction of hard disks and other gadgets, which were later dumped in the Musi River.
The revelations have sparked a political storm, with Telangana Congress spokesperson Ch Dayakar urging the government to take stringent action against those involved. Conversely, senior BRS leader and former minister S Niranjan Reddy dismissed the allegations as baseless, accusing the current government of leaking false information.
As investigations continue, the fallout from this scandal highlights the urgent need for transparency and accountability within intelligence operations to safeguard democratic principles and individual privacy.
