Hyderabad

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Telangana Police probing allegations of illegal phone tapping during the previous BRS regime on Thursday issued a notice to party chief and former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, asking him to appear for examination, sources said.

The SIT has directed Rao, popularly known as KCR, to appear before it in Hyderabad on January 30. The notice was issued as part of the ongoing probe into alleged unauthorised surveillance carried out during his tenure as chief minister.

In its notice, the SIT informed Rao that as he is above 65 years of age, he has the option under Section 160 of the Code of Criminal Procedure to either appear at the Jubilee Hills Police Station or indicate any other convenient location within Hyderabad where he can be examined.

Earlier, BRS working president and KCR’s son, K T Rama Rao, and senior party MLA T Harish Rao appeared before the SIT on January 23 and January 20 respectively in connection with the case. Several other BRS leaders and former officials have also been summoned and questioned as part of the investigation.

The case pertains to allegations of large-scale unauthorised phone surveillance and interception allegedly targeting politicians, businessmen, journalists, members of the judiciary and other eminent personalities, police officials had earlier said.

Former Telangana intelligence chief T Prabhakar Rao, who is the prime accused in the case, has already been questioned by the SIT. Investigators are examining the chain of command and the alleged misuse of surveillance infrastructure during the previous regime.

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A suspended Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) of the Telangana Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB) is among four police officials arrested by Hyderabad Police since March 2024 for allegedly erasing intelligence data from electronic devices and for their suspected role in the phone-tapping operations. All four were later granted bail.