4 min readHyderabadUpdated: Feb 1, 2026 03:19 PM IST
The roads from the Erravalli farmhouse in Siddipet to the Nandi Nagar residence in Hyderabad were lined with Bharat Rashtra Samithi supporters shouting ‘Jai Telangana’ as former Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao travelled to the city. BRS leaders and workers were mobilised in large numbers to show support as KCR headed to Hyderabad to appear before the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in the alleged phone-tapping case.
There were a few instances of effigy burning along the way, even as several BRS workers claimed they were detained by police while proceeding to the Nandi Nagar residence. KCR’s official residence was surrounded by supporters shouting slogans in his favour.
Though he arrived in a convoy of private vehicles, Hyderabad police allowed only his vehicle and security detail to enter the residence premises. Police erected barricades on all four sides of the residence to prevent trespassing and any untoward incidents.
KCR reached the Nandi Nagar residence at 1 pm. His son and BRS working president, KT Rama Rao, was present to receive him along with supporters. The SIT will question KCR at 3 pm on Sunday.
This ends the tug-of-war between the Telangana police and KCR over the venue for his questioning. On Thursday, when asked to appear before the SIT, KCR had requested that his testimony be recorded at his current residence — a farmhouse in Siddipet district — and on a convenient date.
In response, the SIT said in a notice pasted on the compound wall of KCR’s official residence that he would have to appear at his “residence on record”, his house at Nandi Nagar in Hyderabad. The SIT asked him to appear for questioning at 3 pm on February 1.
It is to this second notice that KCR agreed, though with some reluctance. In a reply to the SIT, he wrote, “From the legal provisions and judgements of the honourable Supreme Court of India and various High courts, it is clear that pasting of the letter (second notice) dated January 30 on the compound wall of the house in Nandi Nagar is no notice in the eye of the law and the same is contrary to provisions of section 62 of CrPC… You have no jurisdiction and authority to issue notice to me for the purpose of recording my statement,” he wrote.
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“Notwithstanding the above legal position, I, being a former Chief Minister for the State of Telangana and the present Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, and also as a responsible citizen of this country, in order to assist the department in the investigation of the subject crime, I would be available for my examination at 3 pm on 01.02.2026 at Nandi Nagar residence as you are keen to record my statement there only,” he wrote.
The case pertains to allegations that the phones of BRS rivals were tapped when the party was in power in the state. Those currently accused include Special Intelligence Branch (SIB) chief and IPS officer T Prabhakar Rao, Deputy Superintendent of Police D Praneeth Rao, Additional Superintendents of Police M Thirupathanna and N Bhujanga Rao, former Superintendent of Police P Radhakishan Rao, and a TV channel owner, A Shravan Kumar Rao.
SIT sources had earlier claimed they had evidence to show that at least 600 phone numbers tapped by the SIB under Prabhakar Rao were unrelated to Left Wing Extremism. The SIB was set up in 1990 to track and prevent the activities of the Communist Party of India (Maoist). The sources told The Indian Express that the probe has widened to include the alleged illegal access of call data records and internet protocol data records of thousands of people.
The SIT is headed by Hyderabad Police Commissioner V C Sajjanar.
