Phone-tapping by Telangana govt: Hyderabad HC seeks call detail record

Hyderabad, Jul 30: The Hyderabad High Court today directed the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Court in Vijayawada to dispatch to its Registrar the sealed cover containing call detail record given by four telecom operators in connection with alleged phone-tapping by Telangana government.

The HC asked the CMM Court to immediately send the document to the Registrar (Judicial) of the High Court through a private messenger.

Justice Vilas Afzulpurkar passed the order on two petitions filed by Telangana government in the HC seeking a stay on all proceedings in the phone-tapping case at the CMM Court and for quashing the order of Vijayawada Metropolitan Court that had directed the telecom service providers to give call data details of certain telephone numbers to Andhra Pradesh CID and SIT.

Telangana government contended that the "Court of III Additional Chief Metropolitan Court, Vijayawada (which falls in AP), has no jurisdiction in respect of state of Telangana."

After Telangana ACB registered the `cash-for-vote' scam involving TDP MLA A Revanth Reddy, Andhra Pradesh Police filed a case based on complaints that the phones of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and several of his Ministers were tapped by Telangana intelligence officials.

Andhra Pradesh CID and SIT are looking into the phone- tapping case. The CMM Court had on July 7 and July 17 directed telecom service providers to submit call data of certain numbers and original letters written to them by relevant authorities in Telangana government in this regard.

After the Vijayawada Court asked telcos Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, Reliance Communications and state-owned BSNL to provide the call data details of the phones to AP CID, the telecom firms moved the Supreme Court against the ruling.

The SC, in turn, recently directed them to produce call data records to the Vijayawada Court in a sealed cover.

The alleged cash-for-vote scam had hogged limelight after emergence of an audio tape of a purported conversation between Naidu and Telangana's nominated MLA Elvys Stephenenson.

The tape was aired by some TV channels. The purported conversation suggested Naidu offering "assurances of all sorts" to the MLA if he voted for the TDP nominee in the Telangana Legislative Council polls held in June.

PTI