'Our phones were tapped by Andhra govt': YSRCP files complaint with EC

"Several hundred numbers were being illegally intercepted for the last four and a half years and many more are being added in the run up to the elections," the YSRCP said.
'Our phones were tapped by Andhra govt': YSRCP files complaint with EC
'Our phones were tapped by Andhra govt': YSRCP files complaint with EC
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The YSRCP has alleged that the phones of senior leaders Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy and Talasila Raghuram were being tapped by the Andhra Pradesh government and demanded action against those responsible, including members of the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government.

V Vijayasai Reddy, national general secretary of the YSRCP, wrote to the Chief Election Commissioner on March 25. “Several hundred numbers were being illegally intercepted for the last four and a half years and many more are being added in the run up to the elections…the correspondence available on the illegal surveillance at various levels is being destroyed by the officers of the Andhra Pradesh police,” the letter stated.

“However, the records of these requisitions are very much available with the respective Telecom service providers and other agencies. I can guide the Election Commission of India in securing the incriminating evidence,” he added.

Alleging that his own phone may have been tapped, the YSRCP senior leader also said that he was neither a criminal nor a threat to national security.

“I have been in public life for several years and am open to scrutiny. The Andhra Pradesh police is misusing the information gathered by the illegal telephone surveillance to damage the election campaign of YSRCP,” he wrote.

The YSRCP also named Principal Secretary (Home) Anuradha, DGP R P Thakur, Additional Director General of Police (Intelligence) A B Venkateswara Rao and Bhaskar Bhushan, SP (Counter-Intelligence) and demanded that they be “kept away from all official duties till the electoral process was completed.”

The letter by Vijayasai surfaced even as the Andhra Pradesh Election Commission ordered for the transfer of Venkateswara Rao late on Tuesday night.

“It is to inform all the concerned that ECI (Election Commission of India) has transferred DG Intelligence and SP's of Kadapa and Srikakulam with immediate effect,” the EC said.

While it was unclear if the transfer orders were issued following the complaint of phone tapping, the transferred officers have been attached to state police headquarters and Venkateswara Rao has been banned from participating in any election duties.  .

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