Hyderabad Phone Tapping Case | Hyderabad, Nov 15: Senior IPS officer Mahesh Bhagwat, who has taken charge as Hyderabad Police Commissioner, now faces the phone tapping case, which has stayed politically sensitive for years. Chief Minister Revanth Reddy has said the investigation is almost complete and that “unexpected sensations” will come out soon, according to the source. The remark has stirred political circles.
Bhagwat is a 1995-batch IPS officer. He earlier served as Rachakonda Commissioner for seven years and is known for his work on law and order and on international human trafficking gangs. The source says the case is not an ordinary law and order matter, as it concerns the future of top leaders of the previous government and senior police officers.
Hyderabad Phone Tapping Case | Revanth Reddy’s remarks and the pending supplementary chargesheet
The source says the case has been seen as slowly fading away. Revanth Reddy reportedly said that those who used the surveillance system to trample democratic institutions would not be spared. He signalled that if the findings come out, the state’s politics could change significantly. Leaders of the main parties are anxious to know whose names the investigation team has put in its report.
The first chargesheet was filed in the Nampally court in June 2024. It named former SIB chief Prabhakar Rao, DSP Praneeth Rao, Additional SPs Bhujanga Rao and Thirupathanna, former Task Force DCP Radhakishan Rao and Sravan Kumar as accused. The source says it did not make clear who the political bosses behind them were.
Since then, the SIT has recorded statements from more than 600 witnesses, examined thousands of call data records and retrieved key data from destroyed hard disks. The source says strong evidence is reported against former ministers and key political leaders, but the supplementary chargesheet has been postponed for months.
Hyderabad has had several commissioners since the case was registered: K Srinivasa Reddy, CV Anand and VC Sajjanar supervised the SIT probe, and now Bhagwat. The source says it is for him to coordinate the SIT’s evidence with legal experts and present it to the court without loopholes. The SIT is reported to hold evidence on extortion from businessmen, tapping of rival parties’ strategies during elections and blocking of fund movement.
Whether the real political masterminds will be brought before the court, or the case will remain limited to statements, will become clear only after the supplementary chargesheet is filed.
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