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Telangana SIT reportedly set to name KCR prime accused in phone-tapping case; BRS calls it vendetta
A report says the Telangana special investigation team is preparing an additional chargesheet naming former chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao as prime accused in the phone-tapping case. The BRS calls it vendetta. The chargesheet is not reported as filed.
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The special investigation team probing the phone-tapping case in Telangana is reportedly preparing an additional chargesheet that names former chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, known as KCR, as the prime accused. The report, which cites unnamed sources, says the filing could come at any time. The chargesheet has not been reported as filed, no official statement from the investigators has been published, and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi has called the case political vendetta. Nothing in the report is a finding by a court.
What is reported
According to the report, the investigators describe Rao as the mastermind behind the illegal operations, and they base this on approvals given at the highest level of the government at the time and on statements by some of the accused and the victims. The same report says that the party's working president, K.T. Rama Rao, former minister T. Harish Rao and MLC K. Naveen would also be named as accused. These are claims about what the investigators plan, and none of the persons named has been convicted or, on the reports available, formally charged.
The case so far
The case was registered on 10 March 2024 at the Punjagutta police station, on a complaint by an Additional Superintendent of Police of the Special Intelligence Bureau. It concerns the alleged surveillance and interception of phones of politicians, businessmen, journalists, members of the judiciary and other prominent people during the previous BRS government.
The former head of the intelligence bureau, T. Prabhakar Rao, has been described as the prime accused so far. He was questioned by the team in custody, and a chargesheet was filed within 90 days. Four former police officers have been arrested. Prabhakar Rao and another accused had gone to the United States, which led the police to issue red corner notices to secure their return.
On 1 February 2026, the team questioned KCR for nearly five hours at his residence in Nandi Nagar in Hyderabad, after a notice that allowed him to appear at a place convenient to him. Investigators' sources said at the time that a former officer on special duty, Radhakishan Rao, had mentioned KCR's role in his confession. That was an allegation attributed to sources and not a finding. BRS supporters held protests across the state, and K.T. Rama Rao said that KCR had cooperated out of respect for the Constitution and the rule of law and called the process perverted politics.
The party has dismissed the case as political vendetta by the Congress government and says there is no evidence linking KCR or other party leaders to illegal tapping. It has not been reported to have responded in detail to the latest claim about the chargesheet.
The report comes while the state is dealing with a drought and a dispute between the Congress and the opposition over relief. The government has called an all-party meeting on Wednesday on the El Niño crisis, and the BRS and the BJP have been invited. K.T. Rama Rao has also blamed the Chief Minister for the hardship in drought-hit areas.
The case has had political edges from the start. Bharatiya Janata Party leader Bandi Sanjay, now a Union minister, has demanded an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation, and earlier reports said that the team had found that the phones of his close associates were tapped. The Congress government, which came to power after the BRS, has pursued the case through the special investigation team, while the BRS says that it is being used to target its leaders.
After a chargesheet is filed, the court decides whether to take cognisance of the offences. Those named can be summoned, can seek bail or ask a higher court to quash the case, and the trial begins only after charges are framed.
It is known that the case exists, that officers have been arrested and that KCR was questioned in February. It is not confirmed that a chargesheet naming him has been prepared or filed, and the claim rests on a single report. A chargesheet is the investigators' version of the case, and a court has to take cognisance of it and then try the accused. Anyone named is presumed innocent until a court decides otherwise, and the next reliable step will be an official filing or a statement from the investigators.
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