Justice Sarath Kaja of the Telangana High Court was revealed to be one of the targets of the illegal phone tapping operation conducted during the BRS government tenure, as confessed by former ASP N. Bhujanga Rao. In his statement, Bhujanga Rao detailed that the phones of every politician who criticized the then minister and BRS working president, K.T. Rama Rao, were tapped on the instructions of then SIB chief T. Prabhakar Rao.
Furthermore, Prabhakar Rao was reported to have monitored and tapped the phones of High Court judges, according to accounts provided by Bhujanga Rao and other implicated officers, including Mekala Tirupatanna, D. Praneeth Rao (SIB DSP), and former DCP of the task force G. Radha Kishan Rao. The SIT inquiry into the phone-tapping operations disclosed that devices designed to track terrorist units were utilized to tap into the mobile phones of various political figures, including TPCC president A. Revanth Reddy and prominent Opposition leaders.
The investigation uncovered details suggesting that Praneeth Rao collected personal information regarding judges, key Opposition figures, and BRS leaders, placing them under GPS surveillance for monitoring their movements. During times of unrest or protests against the BRS, the SIB’s special operations team reportedly surveilled leaders and associates who spearheaded the criticism or demonstrations against the party.
Moreover, phone tapping extended beyond politicians to include opposition leaders, student figures, Congress and BJP members, as well as journalists. The confessed actions of tapping phones of family members of opposition leaders, especially during crucial political events like byelections and elections, paint a concerning picture of illicit surveillance operations under the BRS government.