BRS leader Harish Rao booked in phone tapping case

Hyderabad: The phone tapping case in Telangana took a dramatic turn on Tuesday with the police booking former minister T. Harish Rao and others.A case against the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader and others was registered at Panjagutta Police Station in Hyderabad on a complaint by G. Chakradhar Goud, a real estate businessman.The complainant, who is also the founder of Farmers First Foundation, alleged harassment, threats, and unlawful phone surveillance.Then chief of SIB, Prabhakar Rao had allegedly constituted a team within the SIB with his trusted aides including Praneeth Rao for surveillance of rival political leaders, their families and dissidents within the ruling party, businessmen, journalists and even judges.The police have so far named six accused in the cases.Praneeth Rao, Additional SPs Thirupathanna and Bhujanga Rao and former DCP P. Radha Kishan Rao are in judicial custody.Prabhakar Rao and Shravan Kumar Rao, MD of a media outlet, are in the United States.The police had last month questioned former MLAs Jaipal Yadav and Chirumarthi Lingaiah in the phone tapping case.The police had summoned them based on call data of the accused arrested in the case.