Hyderabad, Jan 29: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) Working President K.T. Rama Rao has condemned SIT notice to party president and former Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao in the phone tapping case and termed it as a ‘clear example of the most heinous politics of vendetta’.

Rama Rao alleged that the notice to K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) is an attempt by the Telangana government to cover up its failures and divert public attention from administrative shortcomings.

Rama Rao took to ‘X’ to react strongly to the notice issued by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to his father and BRS chief KCR.

“This is not an investigation. This is revenge. This is not justice. This is political malice,” he said.

Calling KCR a great leader, Rama Rao said he fought for statehood to Telangana with an unwavering resolve, risking his life, and ultimately achieved the goal.

Rama Rao said KCR is the leader, who through his ten-year rule, showcased Telangana to the world.

“He is a great visionary who nurtured all sections of society, treated the state like a newborn child, and led Telangana on the path of development with schemes like the irrigation revolution, Mission Bhagiratha, Mission Kakatiya, Rythu Bandhu, Rythu Bima, and Dalit Bandhu,” wrote the BRS Working President.

“Such a leader is now being targeted by the incompetent Congress government, which came to power on the foundation of false promises and reckless assurances. Within a year of coming to power, this government has betrayed the people and completely failed in implementing its promises,” he added.

Stating that KCR is a leader who resides in the hearts of the people of Telangana, Rama Rao said that the Congress government cannot erase the history of Telangana with notices and threats.

“If you insult the Telangana movement and the self-respect of Telangana, the people themselves will teach you a fitting lesson. We will stand by the people and continue the fight against this unjust rule as the voice of the people. The history of Telangana will not be written by investigations but by the verdict of the people,” said Rama Rao.

The SIT on Thursday issued a notice to KCR, directing him to make himself available for questioning at 3 p.m. on Friday (January 30).

The case relates to alleged tapping of phones of several political opponents, businessmen, journalists and even judges under the previous BRS government.

The SIT earlier questioned BRS leaders and former ministers Rama Rao and T. Harish Rao and former MP J. Santosh Rao.

Chandigarh, Jan 29: The high-security Punjab and Haryana Civil Secretariat, guarded by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), was evacuated on Thursday after a bomb threat email was received in the office of the National Informatics Centre (NIC), officials said.

Besides the CISF, Chandigarh Police, along with its counterparts from Punjab and Haryana, bomb squads and the Fire Brigade, were deployed in the Secretariat, which houses offices of the Chief Ministers of both states, their Cabinet colleagues and top-ranking government functionaries.

After the threat sent from an email id in the name of ‘Michael Gill’, the entire Secretariat was evacuated and thoroughly searched.

The CISF has been deployed in the Secretariat since 1995, when then Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh was killed in a bomb blast at the complex in Chandigarh, the city that serves as the joint administrative capital of Punjab and Haryana.

A day earlier, around 30 schools in the city received bomb-threat emails, causing widespread panic among the police and local administration.

As the schools, both public and private, received the email in the morning, the police were informed, and an alert was issued from the police control room within minutes.

Upon receiving the information, the bomb detection team, the operations cell, and the local police station personnel reached the schools and began searching all premises.

The threatening emails contained inflammatory and objectionable content, including the phrase “bomb blast 1.11 p.m.” The email stated: “Chandigarh is Khalistan, stop the national anthem in schools…” It also mentions the Prime Minister’s proposed visit to Dera Ballan in Punjab’s Jalandhar on February 1 to pay his respects on Guru Ravidas Jayanti.

Normalcy returned as schools remained closed for the day and parents took their children back home.

Mumbai: A gang impersonating police personnel once again exposed serious lapses in law enforcement by pulling off a daring daylight robbery in Mumbai’s high-security Fort area. Two unidentified men, posing as police officers, looted ₹66.45 lakh in cash from a Kenyan woman trader and fled on a motorcycle.

Based on the complaint of the victim, MRA Marg Police have registered a case and launched a manhunt for the accused, using CCTV footage and technical surveillance to trace their movements.

According to police, the incident occurred around 2 pm on January 27 outside the Alana Centre building on Mahatma Gandhi Road. The victim, Sumayya Mohamud Abdi (26), a Nairobi resident dealing in children’s garments, had arrived in Mumbai a day earlier for business and was staying at a hotel on Mohammed Ali Road.

On January 27, Sumayya visited wholesale garment markets at Mohammed Ali Road and Kalbadevi. Her four associates handed over ₹58 lakh in cash to her for settling payments of purchased goods. She was also carrying ₹8 lakh of her own money in two separate bags.

While returning to her hotel in Colaba by taxi along with her associate Hoden, their cab was intercepted in Fort by two men riding a motorcycle. One of them claimed to be a police officer and asked the driver to step out for inspection. Meanwhile, the second accused, wearing a helmet and face mask, approached the women, questioned them about their bags and, under the pretext of police verification, took possession of them.

The duo then asked the women to report to the police station and sped away with the cash-laden bags. Realising they had been duped, the victims rushed to their hotel and raised an alarm. The taxi driver subsequently alerted the police control room. A police team reached the spot, recorded the statement and initiated an investigation.