Hyderabad: The Intelligence wing of Telangana tapped nearly 10,000 phone numbers during the Telangana state Assembly elections held in 2018.
As reported by Deccan Chronicle, a majority of the numbers belonged to police officials. TRS top brass were furnished a list of top police officers who had conversations with Opposition leaders. The tapping of phone continued from the time the election code was imposed till the date of voting.
Following a number of bureaucrats drift towards the Opposition, sensing a tilt ahead of the elections, the TRS leadership decided to keep tabs on their conversations.
DC quoted a senior bureaucrat, who did not want to be named, as saying “there were inputs of a possible connection between a few police officers with the Congress, but no incriminating evidence was found during conversations to take punitive action against them. But the fact remains that a few officers were in touch with senior Congress leaders. This has put them on edge as the list of names has been sent to the TRS top brass.” The senior bureaucrat claimed that tapping conversations during elections is a routine job.