The row surrounding the phone call data of a senior CBI officer took a new turn Tuesday with Cyberabad police Tuesday booking a journalist and a police officer on a complaint of a woman, with whom the CBI officer was in touch.
A case against K. Yadagiri Reddy, a senior correspondent of Telugu daily "Sakshi", owned by jailed YSR Congress Party leader Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, and police inspector M.Srinivasa Rao from Nacharam police station, and others was booked at the cyber crime police station of Cyberabad Commissionerate.
The case under various sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC), Information Technology Act, 2000, Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, and Official Secrets Act, 1923, was booked on a complaint by Chandrabala Vasireddy, a friend of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Joint Director V.V. Lakshminarayana.
According to a statement by the Cyberabad police commissioner, Vasireddy alleged that Sakshi news channel telecast a programme to cause injury to her dignity and reputation by making public the confidential information of the call details of her mobile phone.
The police took the action following a direction by the state human rights commission on a petition of Vasireddy. The YSR Congress Party June 21 revealed the details of the calls Lakshminarayana made to Vasireddy and journalists of Sakshi's rival media groups.
Accusing Lakshminarayana of bias in the investigations against Jaganmohan Reddy in his illegal assets case, the party claimed Chandrabala made 328 calls to Lakshminarayana while the latter called her 411 times during last two months.
The party also alleged that Chandrabala also made calls to a managing director of a vernacular daily, carrying stories against Jaganmohan Reddy and also to a top police officer.
The YSR Congress alleged a conspiracy against its leader and urged the central government to sack Lakshminarayana, who is heading probe against Jaganmohan Reddy.