Telangana Govt Declines Police Affidavit in Phone-Tapping Case

Hyderabad: The state government on Tuesday informed the Telangana High Court that it would not adopt an affidavit filed by Hyderabad city police commissioner K. Sreenivasa Reddy in the controversial phone-tapping case, and sought time to file a fresh affidavit.

The city police commissioner sprang a surprise a few days ago, requesting the High Court to close a suo motu case that the latter had taken up into the phone-tapping case. The government said the home department would submit a report on the progress of the probe henceforth.

A division bench of the Telangana High Court comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Tadakamalla Vinod Kumar was hearing the suo motu taken-up petition on the alleged phone-tapping done by the higher officials of the previous BRS government. The High Court took up the petition based on a report on phone-tapping in Deccan Chronicle.

The Hyderabad police commissioner had previously filed a counter affidavit requesting the court to close the suo motu petition, as the police had been investigating the case.

In contrast, on Tuesday, additional advocate general Md Imran Khan informed to the High Court that the government was not adopting the affidavit submitted by the Hyderabad police commissioner and submitted that the principal secretary of the home department was the authorised and competent person to deal with the issue and would submit a separate counter with all details and sought time.

B. Narasimha Sharma, additional solicitor general of India, also sought time to file a counter on behalf of the Centre. The court accepted their request and adjourned the case to August 20.