SIT notice in phone tapping case a ‘silly drama’, says BRS leader Harish Rao

Posted on by Vividh Bharathi

Hyderabad, Jan 20 (IANS) Ahead of his appearance before the SIT probing phone tapping case, BRS leader T. Harish Rao on Tuesday termed the SIT notice to him as a ‘silly drama’ of Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy. He alleged that since he exposed the corruption of the Chief Minister and his family members, he was summoned by the Special Investigation Team (SIT).

The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader said he was not afraid of notices and cases, as he faced many such cases since the Telangana movement days. Harish Rao was talking to media persons outside his residence at Kokapet along with BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao and several other party leaders.

The former minister alleged that since he exposed the corruption by the Chief Minister and his coterie, he was issued the SIT notice to divert the public attention. He said he was issued notice at 9 p.m., directing him to appear before the SIT at 11 a.m. the next day. He stated that since he respects the law of the land, he would appear before the SIT as directed.

Harish Rao said he was not scared as he had done nothing wrong. He pointed out that both the Telangana High Court and the Supreme Court had quashed phone-tapping cases against him, but a new drama was being played in the name of the SIT.

The former minister said he was issued notices hours after he exposed the scam in coal block tenders of Singareni Collieries and also the corruption allegedly involving the Chief Minister’s brother-in-law. He, however, said this was not new to him as he faced many such cases in the united Andhra Pradesh.

The SIT has issued notice to Harish Rao under section 160 of Cr.P.C. The notice says that the investigation made in the case revealed that he is acquainted with a few facts and circumstances of the case.

The SIT is probing the allegations that under the BRS rule, phone of several individuals, including political opponents, businessmen, journalists, and even judges, were tapped.

The phone tapping case surfaced in March 2024. Former Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB) chief T. Prabhakar Rao is the main accused in the case. Deputy Superintendent of Police D. Praneeth Rao, Additional SPs Thirupathanna and N. Bhujanga Rao, former DCP Radha Kishan Rao, and a television channel owner, Sravan Kumar, are the other accused.

In a separate case relating to phone tapping against Harish Rao, the Supreme Court on January 5 had dismissed the Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by the state government. The apex court refused to interfere with the earlier orders of the Telangana High Court, which had quashed the FIR registered at the Panjagutta police station, holding that there was no material to establish Harish Rao’s involvement in the alleged phone tapping.

The case originated from a complaint filed in 2024 by Siddipet-based real estate businessman Chakradhar Goud, who alleged that his phone was tapped during the tenure of the previous BRS government at the instance of Harish Rao and former DCP Radha Kishan Rao.

–IANS

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KTR claims Rs 10,000 crore scam in land near Hyderabad University

Hyderabad, April 11 (IANS) Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) Working President K.T. Rama Rao on Friday accused Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy of orchestrating a massive Rs 10,000 crore financial scam involving Kancha Gachibowli lands near the Hyderabad Central University.

Addressing a news conference, KTR, as the BRS leader is popularly known, claimed that the state government illegally pledged 400 acres of forest land adjacent to Hyderabad Central University (HCU) to secure a Rs 10,000 crore loan from banks.

Terming the episode as a “criminal conspiracy” and a “betrayal of Telangana’s trust”, he called Revanth Reddy the “architect, executor, and key player” behind the scandal and vowed to take up the issue with the RBI, the SFIO, the SEBI and other Central agencies.

KTR alleged that the land was illegally pledged without verifying ownership, conducting environmental assessments, or obtaining Forest Department approvals. The Telangana Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TGIIC), he alleged, mortgaged the land despite lacking a legal title, with no sale deed, mutation, or alienation process to establish ownership.

Claiming a glaring discrepancy in the land’s valuation, he said that initially, the government valued the 400 acres at Rs 30,000 crore, issuing a Government Order (GO) in June 2024 that pegged the per-acre value at Rs 75 crore. However, five months later, in November 2024, a new valuation by another agency reduced the per-acre value to Rs 52 crore, and a subsequent open-market assessment further slashed it to Rs 41.6 crore, bringing the total value down.

KTR questioned the rationale behind this drastic reduction, alleging it was a deliberate move to facilitate the transfer of the land to Revanth Reddy’s associates at a fraction of the inflated value.

Citing the Stamps and Registration Department, KTR noted that the market value in the Kancha-Gachibowli area is Rs 26,900 per square yard, translating to a total value of Rs 5,239.84 lakh for 400 acres. “How can land worth Rs 5,000 crore be inflated to Rs 30,000 crore and then conveniently reduced to Rs 16,640 crore? This is a textbook case of financial manipulation,” he charged.

He accused a bank of gross negligence in approving the Rs 10,000 crore loan without verifying land ownership or conducting basic due diligence. KTR also claimed that a BJP MP played a central role in facilitating the scam.

“This BJP MP will be named soon. The state government has promised undue benefits to him through this deal,” he said, warning that the Central government’s inaction would confirm a BJP-Congress nexus.

He alleged that hundreds of acres of forest land were bulldozed overnight, destroying trees and wildlife habitats. “This wasn’t just about financial loot – it was about erasing Telangana’s green cover and robbing mute animals of their homes. The nation watched in horror as Revanth Reddy’s government unleashed this ecological vandalism.”

The BRS leader cited a 1996 Supreme Court ruling that classifies land with forest characteristics, such as the point-four canopy present in the 400 acres, as forest land, regardless of ownership records. Under the Forest Conservation Act of 1980, such land cannot be pledged, sold, or used for non-forest purposes without Central government approval, a step the state government allegedly ignored. No environmental impact assessment was conducted, and forest department permissions were bypassed, making the entire operation illegal, he added.

–IANS

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President Murmu returns to Delhi after winter sojourn in Hyderabad

Hyderabad, Dec 22 (IANS) President Droupadi Murmu returned to Delhi on Monday after a five-day winter sojourn here.

Telangana Governor Jishnu Dev Varma, Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, Union Minister for Coal and Mines, G. Kishan Reddy and others saw her off at Air Force Station, Hakeempet.

Chief Secretary K. Ramakrishna Rao, Director General of Police B. Shivadhar Reddy and senior civil and defence officials were also present.

The President had arrived here on December 17 and stayed at Rashtrapati Nilayam at Bollarum, as part of her winter retreat.

Police had made tight security arrangements and diverted traffic at various points on the route from Rashtrapati Nilayam to Air Force Station.

The President attended a couple of programmes during her stay in the city. On December 19, she inaugurated the National Conference for the Chairpersons of Public Service Commissions, being organised by the Telangana Public Service Commission at Ramoji Film City.

On December 20, she addressed a conference on ‘Timeless Wisdom of Bharat: Pathways of Peace and Progress’, being organised by Brahma Kumaris Shanti Sarovar to mark its 21st anniversary.

The President hosted an ‘At Home’ reception at Rashtrapati Nilayam on December 21. Governor Jishnu Dev Varma, Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, ministers, Assembly Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar, Legislative Council Chairman G. Sukhender Reddy and senior officials attended the ‘At Home’.

Central government and state government departments, as well as Rashtrapati Nilayam officials, made elaborate arrangements for the President’s stay.

The President stays at least once a year in Rashtrapati Nilayam and conducts official business from here.

The building was constructed in 1860 as the country house of the British Resident at Secunderabad.

After Hyderabad acceded to India in 1948, it became the President’s retreat.

First President Rajendra Prasad had stayed here in 1955, and since then, every President has visited Hyderabad for a southern sojourn of at least one week every year.

–IANS

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Gujarat receives 71 per cent of seasonal rainfall

Ahmedabad, Aug 20 (IANS) Heavy rain lashed Gujarat’s coastal Saurashtra region, with Devbhumi Dwarka district recording the highest rainfall of 11 inches, including 10.75 inches in Kalyanpur and 6 inches in Dwarka taluka.

The rainfall was recorded in the past 24 hours.

Porbandar received around 4 inches of rainfall, Mangrol 3.74 inches, Sutrapada 3.35 inches, and Jafrabad over 3 inches.

In Junagadh’s Mendarda taluka, nearly 10 inches of rain poured in just four hours between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. on Wednesday, while Vanthali and Keshod saw over 5 inches and 4 inches, respectively. Heavy showers were also reported from Bhavnagar’s Mahuva (4.76 inches) and Gir-Somnath’s Talala (4 inches).

The downpour has significantly boosted water storage, with the Sardar Sarovar Dam now 77.88 per cent full, holding 26,017.4 MCM of water, while the other 206 reservoirs across the state are at 74.48 per cent of their capacity. Authorities have placed 64 dams on high alert, 29 on alert, and 21 under warning.

According to the State Emergency Operations Centre in Gandhinagar, Gujarat has so far received over 71 per cent of its seasonal average rainfall, with Kutch leading at 75 per cent, followed by South Gujarat (73 per cent), North Gujarat (72 per cent), Central-Eastern Gujarat (nearly 70 per cent), and Saurashtra at 69.06 per cent. Since 2020, Gujarat has exhibited increasingly erratic and intense rainfall trends.

The year 2020 saw an extraordinary 1,091.7 mm of rain, about 58 per cent above average, with Devbhumi Dwarka alone recording 2,132 mm, a staggering 325 per cent excess. In 2021, Saurashtra endured severe floods in September, resulting in loss of life and massive infrastructure damage.

Data for 2022 suggests near-normal to slightly below-normal totals, though numbers remain limited. By 2023, the trend toward volatility deepened: 12 of Gujarat’s 33 districts experienced more than a 50 per cent increase in seasonal rainfall over the 2014–2023 norm. Devbhumi Dwarka again led the surge, with a 135 per cent rise, while regions like Porbandar, Vadodara, Bharuch, and Tapi also saw significant gains.

In 2024, Saurashtra-Kutch alone saw a 75 per cent excess rainfall, one of the highest in India. The total seasonal rainfall ended up approximately 8 per cent above normal, with reservoir levels significantly impacted.

In 2025, the monsoon arrived early, and by mid-June, Gujarat had already received 30 per cent of its seasonal rainfall (257 mm), the fastest such pace in a decade, far surpassing the five-year average of just 10.6 per cent for that period. June proved to be the wettest month since 2015, delivering about 288.7 mm, around 32.7 per cent of the annual average rainfall.

–IANS

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