Hyderabad: During his five-hour long questioning by the Special Investigation Team (SIT), on Sunday, probing the alleged phone tapping case, former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao was reportedly made to read certain provisions of Indian Telegraph Act.“KCR was asked to read the provisions of the Indian Telegraph Act after he claimed to be ignorant about it and said he had no knowledge about phone lines of individuals being monitored during BRS’ tenure,” said a source.Sources said the former CM who was questioned at his Banjara Hills residence amid tight security, was also asked if he knew why telephone lines are intercepted and what rules must be followed for destruction of material related to tapping.Apart from this, SIT sleuths — led by S M Vijay Kumar, joint commissioner of police (Special Branch) — also asked KCR why the BRS govt, during its regime, retained T Prabhakar Rao as chief of the sensitive Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB) even post-retirement.Prabhakar Rao was cited as prime accused by Hyderabad police in 2024, in the alleged phone tapping case, after Congress came to power in the state.A large posse of policemen was deployed in and around KCR’s home in Nandi Nagar, Banjara Hills, throughout the day. Senior party leaders including BRS working president K T Rama Rao and former state minister Harish Rao were present inside the house during the questioning.While KCR was initially served a notice for questioning on Jan 29, it was pushed to Feb 1 after the former CM sought more time and urged the SIT to conduct the interrogation at his farmhouse in Erravalli, 65 km from Hyderabad. His request, however, was turned down with the SIT directing him to be present at his Nandi Nagar residence — the address registered in his affidavit.Earlier on Sunday, the former CM set out from his Erravalli farmhouse for Hyderabad accompanied by a large convoy of vehicles and party workers. All along the way, he was greeted by the party cadre who, at some places, even showered his convoy with flowers.After reaching Hyderabad, the traffic police intervened to restrict the movement of vehicles following him at different points in the city. Between the KBR X Roads and the Cancer Hospital stretch, police stopped all other vehicles and allowed only KCR’s SUV to enter a by-lane leading to his residence.At around 1 pm, KCR reached his Nandi Nagar residence. Subsequently, Vijay Kumar and other SIT officials arrived at the site at around 2.45 pm in eight vehicles, carrying a large volume of material related to the investigation.The scheduled questioning began around 3 pm. Later the SIT issued a statement saying it had concluded KCR’s questioning.With BRS workers threatening to protest against the notice served to KCR by the SIT, security was beefed up across the state. Along the route from Erravalli to Hyderabad too heavy bandobast was deployed to manage traffic.Following the nearly five-hour-long interrogation, KCR appeared on the balcony along with BRS legislators and other senior party leaders to greet followers who had gathered in large numbers outside the residence.His questioning comes days after two other senior party leaders — KTR and Harish — were similarly grilled by SIT officials over the alleged knowledge about the phone-tapping case. So far, five other senior police officials have been accused in the case for allegedly tapping the phone lines of senior political leaders — including current chief minister A Revanth Reddy — industrialists and journalists during the BRS regime, ahead of the 2023 assembly elections.
