Challenging the FIR, Harish Rao and Radhakishan Rao filed separate petitions seeking to quash the case
Hyderabad: In a relief to former minister T. Harish Rao and former DCP P. Radhakishan Rao, the Telangana High Court quashed the FIR registered against them in a phone-tapping case on Thursday.
The Panjagutta police had registered a case against them and four others in December 2024 based on a complaint by Gandhagoni Chakradhar Goud, who contested the 2024 Assembly elections from Siddipet and lost to Harish Rao. Goud alleged that his phone and those of his family members had been tapped during the BRS regime at the instigation of Harish Rao.
He also accused Radhakishan Rao, then a police officer, of abusing his power by illegally detaining him and his associates, forcing them to kneel for hours and threatening them against holding protests against Harish Rao.
Challenging the FIR, Harish Rao and Radhakishan Rao filed separate petitions seeking to quash the case. The High Court had earlier stayed further proceedings. On Thursday, Justice K. Lakshman allowed their petitions, setting aside the FIR against them. The court found that Goud’s complaint to the police lacked the necessary elements to substantiate the phone-tapping allegations against Harish Rao.
Additionally, it noted an unusually long delay of over a year in filing the complaint, with Goud failing to provide any justification for this delay. Given these factors, the court ruled that continuing the criminal proceedings against Harish Rao would constitute an abuse of the legal process and could not be allowed to proceed.
