The Telangana phone tapping scandal is ongoing, with senior BJP MP and leader Etla Rajender level fresh allegations against the erstwhile BRS government. On Monday, Etala went to the Special Investigation Team (SIT), which is investigating the case of illegal surveillance, and recorded his statement officially.
Etela asserted that the then KCR government not only monitored his own phone in the 2023 Telangana Assembly elections but also intercepted the phone of his wife Jamuna Rajender and numerous lines associated with her business organization, Jamuna Hatcheries. He termed the surveillance as a gross violation of privacy, causing emotional distress and mental trauma to his whole family.
In his interrogation by the SIT, Etela replied to all the questions posed by investigators and described how the illegal surveillance was personal, professional, and political in nature. He requested the investigation agency to expedite the process and provide those responsible for the illegal practice with their due comeuppance according to the law.
Addressing the media persons outside Jubilee Hills Police Station following his SIT appearance, Etela vehemently condemned the previous KCR-led BRS government, alleging that it had politicized the state’s machinery for its political advantage. “Only during KCR’s regime such attempts were even conceived — tapping phones of opposition leaders to get an upper hand in the elections,” Etela alleged.
He also alleged that the government of BRS shadowed each detail of his life, from his schedules and meeting spots to even where he had his meals. Etela also accused senior police officer Prabhakar Rao, alleging that after being given confirmed IPS status, he totally succumbed to political pressure, abandoning legal principles.
Etela’s exposures have further intensified the crisis regarding the phone tapping controversy in Telangana, lending more strength to popular demands for a free and impartial probe. With political tensions rising steadily, the SIT is now under greater pressure to expose the truth and uphold justice at the earliest.
