KTR sends legal notices to Minister Konda Surekha and two other Congress leaders

It asked KK Mahender Reddy to withdraw the “false” complaint against KTR and clarify.

Meanwhile, it has asked Yennam Srinivas Reddy to issue a clarification stating that the complaint filed by KK Mahender is false and that KTR has no relation to the phone tapping case.

The notice has asked the three leaders to “Refrain from engaging in any further malicious or frivolous defamatory acts, directly or indirectly, against KTR.”

The notice claimed, in case of failure to follow the above conditions, their client, KTR can take legal action.

“This includes both civil and criminal proceedings, with our client reserving the right to seek damages,” it read

Mala fide, without proof

The notices come a day after KTR warned of consequences against the leaders making statements without facts.

Siricilla MLA further threatened legal action against the media outlets carrying the news “without verifying the facts”.

Stating that their client, KTR has an impeccable track record and tremendous goodwill for his leadership across Telangana, the legal firm PV Janani and Associates claimed that the statements made against KTR are “Misplaced without proof and reeks of mala fide intention to tarnish the reputation, image and goodwill of our client.”

Claiming that the intentions behind the derogatory statements are vendetta politics, the notice further claimed that the general public is bound to believe the statements by a minister of state, or an MLA referring to Konda Surekha and Yennam Srinivas Reddy.

The notices further claimed the leaders were misusing their positions of power for political gains.

Phone tapping case: KTR threatens legal action against Congress leaders and media reporting their statements

‘Ammunition to spiteful media houses’

Referring to the news reports carrying the Congress leaders’ statements, the notice says, the media and a few social media accounts are falsely associating KTR with the phone tapping case, while the investigation in the said case is still underway.

The notice further read: “Our client states that from the day these allegations were published and circulated, our client has been suffering considerable embarrassment and loss of reputation. Such defamatory content and allegations have resulted in endless defamation and damage to his reputation.”

“In the most perfidious manner, you have provided ammunition to the spiteful media houses who have created an untrue defamation campaign, with the sole motive to ensure that the footprints of such campaign in the digital and print media in a sustained manner, so as to build false propaganda against our client for political and other reasons and vendetta. You have distorted the facts and misleading the public at large for your personal and political benefits..”

What did the congress leaders say?

K Mahender Reddy and Srinivas Reddy filed complaints with the police Commissioner Kothakota Sreenivas Reddy regarding the tapping of his phone in the past week.

They claimed, their phones were tapped during the recent assembly elections by a former BRS minister.

Mahender Reddy claimed, “Corporators and other local leaders of Rajanna Sircilla district were also threatened during the elections to not join Congress.”

Meanwhile, Telangana Minister Konda Surekha speaking to reporters in Warangal on Monday claimed, the phones of Tollywood heroines were also tapped by KTR.

She stated that KTR and his father, former Chief Minister KCR would be soon arrested for their involvement in the phone tapping case.

Also Read: Telangana snooping case: Leaked document says accused cops targeted politicians, talked via encrypted apps

Phone tapping case

Based on a complaint filed by an additional superintendent of police of the Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB) on 10 March, a case was registered against Praneeth Rao and others at Panjagutta police station in Hyderabad on charges of criminal breach of trust by a public servant, causing disappearance of evidence, and criminal conspiracy and other sections of IPC, PDPP Act and IT Act-2000.

The case was registered against them for allegedly destroying certain computer systems and official data of the SIB, including those obtained by him clandestinely and illegally in collusion with others with an intention to make wrongful gain, the police had said.

They were also accused of developing profiles of some persons and monitoring them, causing disappearance of physical and electronic records of the SIB, and copying intelligence information into personal drives, police said.

On Monday, April 1, a document related to the case was shared widely on social media.

It apparently showed how officers of the Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB) tapped the phones of their targets and how they communicated among themselves.

Related: Police a step closer to truth after arrest of former task force OSD

(Edited by Sumavarsha Kandula)