TDP Polit Bureau member and former MLA Bonda Umamaheswara Rao on Wednesday made a sensational allegation that Additional Superintendents of Police (ASPs) Narender Reddy, Ravindra Reddy and Venugopal Reddy, were tapping the phones of the leaders of opposition parties and heads of some constitutional bodies on orders from the State government by using the Pegasus spyware purchased by it.
Mr. Umamaheswara Rao also alleged that Inspector-General of Police (Vigilance & Enforcement) K. Raghuram Reddy was implicating TDP and Jana Sena Party (JSP) leaders in false cases, and Chittoor Superintendent of Police Y. Rishanth Reddy was acting as a conduit for the ‘transport of money and liquor to all constituencies.”
These and other IPS officers were resorting to illegal activities at the behest of the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) and its president and Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, the TDP leader alleged while addressing the media.
Mr. Umamaheswara Rao said the mobile phones of TDP national president N. Chandrababu Naidu, JSP president Pawan Kalyan and State BJP president Daggubati Purandeswari were being tapped, and “it has been a continuous activity with clear political objectives.”
He demanded that the Election Commission of India (ECI) inquire into the phone tapping episode and take action against the police officers concerned.
Mr. Umamaheswara Rao warned that the police officers serving the interests of political parties would meet the same fate as DSP D. Praneeth Kumar, who landed in serious trouble for tapping the phones of politicians in Telangana.
Ministers Peddireddi Ramachandra Reddy and Gudivada Amarnath had themselves admitted to the fact that phones were being tapped, Mr. Umamaheswara Rao asserted, claiming to have evidence of the wrongdoing and saying that it would be submitted to the ECI and the Chief Electoral Officer of Andhra Pradesh.
