Ex-DCP Radhakishan Rao confession: SIB tracked BRS critics, tapped calls, installed spy cameras

Hyderabad: Ex-Deputy Commissioner of Police Radhakishan Rao, who was part of the Hyderabad Task Force, has admitted to the Hyderabad police that he was involved in a covert phone operation that targeted several political figures.

In his confession report, Radhakishan Rao accused prominent politicians and government officials in his testimony; he was recently arrested in connection with the matter. Rao’s confession states that Special Intelligence Branch (SIB) chief Prabhakar Rao was in charge of the operation. Rao has revealed that the latter had tapped the phones of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leaders including Tandur former MLA Pilot Rohit Reddy who tried to switch loyalties to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

‘KCR asked SIB to put surveillance on Rohit Reddy’

Radhakishan Rao said that in the last week of October 2022, former Telangana Intelligence Bureau chief T Prabhakar Rao said that former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) wanted to corner the BJP after the party came in touch with Pilot Rohith Reddy urging him to leave the BRS and join the BJP along with some MLAs. Then, KCR had asked the SIB to monitor the same by putting surveillance over those private persons and Rohit Reddy, he said.

By intercepting the cell phones, the former DCP said that D Praneeth Kumar, a former SIB officer, conducted the surveillance and produced an audio clip. Once KCR received the audio clip, he instructed the officials to work with Rohit Reddy to prepare a trap.

In line with their plan, Radha Kishan Rao added, Rohit Reddy lured two swamijis and private individuals named Nandu to a farmhouse close to Aziz Nagar in Moinabad.

“I obtained spy cameras for this reason by sending my task force officers, inspector Srikanth and Srinath Reddy, to Delhi via some contacts. Our task force officers, Ashok Reddy, Mallikarjun, and Srikanth, put them at a farmhouse a day before the event. Subsequently, KCR invited three other MLAs from various groups to join. KCR gave the local police instructions to work with us. The Cyberabad SOT police conducted additional action once the operation was completed,” said Radhakishan Rao in his confession report.

‘KCR formed SIT to forced BJP to drop ED probe’

The former DCP further stated that an SIT (Special Investigation Team) was formed as part of the plan.

Radha Kishan Rao said, KCR wanted BJP national leader BL Santosh arrested to fortify the case, force the BJP to offer a compromise, and use it as leverage to drop the ED probe against his daughter, MLC Kavitha Kalvakuntla.

However, an important member of the Mata Amritanandamayi Institution escaped police custody due to the incompetence of some Cyberabad police officers in Kerala. Later, SP Rema Rajeshwari, SIB inspector Gattu Mallu, and a few other people traveled to Kerala via chartered flight, but the work was not finished.

Prabhakar Rao oversaw the SIB, which methodically gathered data on anyone seen to pose a danger to the ruling BRS party. After receiving this information, SIB DSP Praneeth Kumar kept a close eye on these people to create profiles that would help him manage and neutralise any dangers to the BRS.

RS Praveen Kumar, Kadiyam Srihari were among those who were monitored

According to Rao, several well-known individuals were being kept under surveillance, including MLC Shambipur Raju (who had a falling out with Qutbullapur MLA), Warangal’s T Rajaiah BRS leader Kadiyam Srihari, Patnam Mahender Reddy and his spouse, who were not happy with the Tandur MLA, retired IPS officer RS Praveen Kumar, and media personalities Narendra Chowdary of NTV and Radhakrishna of ABN.

Several opposition party candidates were also under surveillance: Saritha Thirupathaiah of Gadwal; Juvvadi Narsinga Rao of Korutla; Vamshi Krishna of Achampet; and Raghuveer, son of Jana Reddy of Nagarjunasagar.

Politicians were not the only targets of the spying. Rao disclosed that a large number of businesspeople in the real estate and construction industries were also under surveillance to trace their affiliations and whereabouts.

Surveillance pushed many to avoid direct calls and use WhatsApp, Signal, and Snapchat

Many bureaucrats, members of the court, and political figures avoided making direct phone calls as a result of the widespread monitoring and instead used encrypted messaging services like WhatsApp, Signal, and Snapchat.

To bypass this and to follow conversations over internet calls, Prabhakar Rao and his colleagues started collecting and examining Internet Protocol Data Records (IPDRs).

One particularly unsettling aspect of the controversy concerns iNews journalist Sravan Kumar.

According to Rao’s admission, Sravan Kumar spoke with Prabhakar Rao directly during the October and November 2023 election campaign at the request of the then minister T Harish Rao. Information from opposition party leaders and their financial backers was sent to the SIB through Sravan Kumar’s facilitation. In addition to helping Praneeth Kumar’s staff with internet trolling operations against BRS critics, he specifically contributed to the targeted confiscation of money from opposition leaders.