T'gana: Former DCP taken ill during questioning in phone tapping case

Hyderabad, April 5 (IANS) Former Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Task Force, Radha Kishan Rao was taken ill on Friday, during questioning by the police in the phone tapping case.

On the second day of his questioning at Banjara Hills police station, the former official's blood pressure shot up. The police then called doctors for a check-up.

The police on Thursday had taken in custody Kishan Rao after a city court remanded him to police custody for seven days.

Kishan Rao, who worked as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in Task Force after superannuation, is being questioned about his alleged involvement in the illegal surveillance of individuals and disappearance of evidence pertaining to the surveillance.

He is also accused of facilitating illegal transport of cash at the behest of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) during November 2023 Assembly elections.

Radha Kishan Rao has been named the fourth accused in the case, which came to light last month, causing a stir in political circles.

Kishan Rao was arrested on March 28. The next day, Nampally court sent him to judicial custody for 14 days.

There are allegations that Special Operations Team (SOT) was created in the Special Intelligence Branch (SIB) for surveillance of rival political leaders and their families and dissidents within the ruling party

Former SIB chief Prabhakar Rao allegedly created the SOT with his trusted aides including DSP D. Praneeth Rao, the first police officer to be arrested in the case last month.

Prabhakar Rao, considered close to then Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, resigned as SIB chief after the Congress party came to power.

Police have issued a lookout notice for Prabhakar Rao, who is said to be abroad.

According to the remand report, the Task Force seized Rs 70 lakh belonging to Anand Prasad, the TDP candidate from Serilingampally constituency during the December 2018 elections after SOT shared information with Radha Kishan Rao.

On Praneeth’s inputs, the team also seized Rs 1 crore during the 2020 Dubbaka by-election. The money belonged to a chit fund company in Siddipet, associated with relatives and associates of BJP candidate M. Raghunandan Rao.

Similarly, during Munugode by-election in October 2022, Rs 3.5 crore of BJP candidate Komatireddy Raja Gopal Reddy was intercepted and seized.

Two other police officers, N. Bhujanga Rao and M. Tirupatanna were, on Tuesday, remanded to judicial custody till April 6. The two officers were produced in the court after their five-day police custody came to an end on Tuesday.

Bhujanga Rao, Additional Superintendent of Police in Bhupalpally district and Tirupathanna, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, City Security Wing, Hyderabad City Police were arrested on March 23. They had earlier served in SIB.