HYDERABAD: Following the arrest of former Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Radha Kishan Rao in the phone-tapping case, the infamous MLA poaching case has once again come under the spotlight.
Investigations revealed that Radha Kishan, in collaboration with several members of his team, travelled to Kerala and Delhi onboard a private flight allegedly owned by a leader of the BRS as part of their investigation into the MLAs poaching attempt.
Sources said that Radha Kishan’s questioning will reveal the identity of the flight’s owner.
It was Radha Kishan who arranged the snooping devices used to trap the emissaries, allegedly sent by the BJP, to poach BRS MLAs at a farmhouse near Chevella. It was former SIB DSP D Praneeth Rao who alerted Radha Kishan that four BRS MLAs — Guvvala Balaraju, Pilot Rohith Reddy, R Kantha Rao and Harshavardhan Reddy were approached by the emissaries identified as Ramachandra Bharathi, Nanda Kumar, and Simhayajulu. Praneeth Rao apparently got wind of the poaching attempt by tapping the phones of the four MLAs.
Disregarding the jurisdictional limits, Radha Kishan Ro arranged the cameras and microphones at the farmhouse culminating in the arrest of Ramachandra Bharathi, Nanda Kumar and Simhayajulu.
The snooping setup comprised 74 electronic devices, including cameras and recording equipment, just a day before the operation was to take place. It is alleged that Jupalli Ramesh Rao, Inspector level officer of the IT Wing monitored the entire setup at the farmhouse.
Meanwhile, West Zone Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Vijay Kumar said that Radha Kishan is being investigated for colluding with others to unlawfully compile profiles of private individuals, utilising this information to benefit a specific political party.
Radha Kishan is also being investigated for attempting to obliterate records to facilitate the disappearance of evidence critical to the investigation. The DCP said that Radha Kishan is under police custody and is being questioned by the investigation officer and his team at Banjara Hills police station from Thursday.
According to sources, the question whether the three offenders in the poaching case brought any cash is being looked into. It is likely that due to the money being mentioned in the phone-tapping case, the ED will sooner or later enter into the picture.