HYDERABAD: A key accused in the phone tapping case, A Sravan Kumar Rao is believed to have told the police in his confession that a former minister, who held key portfolios in the previous BRS government, had asked him to give a copy of the 2023 Assembly election survey he had conduced.
The survey predicted that the BRS will lose the elections, which were held on November 30, 2023.
It may be mentioned here that the present state government had informed the Telangana High Court that the other accused in the case had intercepted 4,200 phone calls, including those of Congress leaders, between November 15 to 30, 2023.
Meanwhile, a source said that Sravan Rao filed a petition in the Nampally court stating the police had forced him to sign the confession statement.
In his confession, Sravan Rao reportedly told the police that he had sent the report to the former minister through ex-DSP of Special Intelligence Bureau Praneeth Rao, who was asked by his boss and former SIB chief T Prabhakar Rao to collect it.
“The survey report predicted that the BRS would win 42 seats in the 2023 Assembly elections,” the source added.
Police have also questioned a few people hired by Sravan Rao to conduct the survey and seized some electronic devices from them. After the elections, the accused also conducted exit polls and handed over a copy of that report to the then minister. Their exit polls also predicted that the BRS would lose the elections.
Sravan Kumar, who was staying in the US, returned home after the Supreme Court granted him anticipatory bail. Upon his return to Hyderabad, he was questioned by the police several times.
During case hearing, the public prosecutor informed the high court that “not only the phones of politicians but also those of Jangaon and Vikarabad district collectors were intercepted”.
Meanwhile, it is learnt that the Special Investigation Team (SIT), which is probing the phone tapping case, will be questioning top bureaucrats, including present and retired IAS and IPS officers, as witnesses.