Cash seized from opposition candidates, claims ex-cop in Telangana snooping case

Telangana Police and the State Intelligence Bureau conspired to ensure the BRS remains in power, through means including cash seizures and surveillance, according to one of the arrested police officers - Radhakrishna Rao.

The startling revelations emerged in the remand report filed by police in court, seeking custody of former Deputy Commissioner of Police P Radhakishan Rao in in the alleged snooping scandal.

Radhakishan Rao allegedly confessed to carrying out illegal activities based on inputs from suspended Deputy Superintendent of Police D Praneeth Rao. He also named officers like Bhujanga Rao, Tirupatanna and Venugopal Rao, and said the entire operation was conducted under the leadership of then SIB chief T Prabhakar Rao.

The officers allegedly kept opposition candidates under constant surveillance during the 2018 and 2023 Assembly elections, and the Dubbak and Munugode by-polls. He also claimed cash was confiscated from opposing candidates and people linked to them, which was then moved in official vehicles.

The authorities cited specific examples given by Radhakrishna Rao to support claims that the officers acted at the behest of KCR's Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), which was in power in Telangana since the state was formed in 2014.

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