The tremors of phone tapping, which shook the political circles in Telangana, appear to have reached the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh as well.
The opposition Telugu Desam Party, headed by N Chandrababu Naidu, has alleged that the telephone of its general secretary and former minister Nara Lokesh was being tapped at the behest of the ruling YSR Congress Party leaders.
In a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, the former TDP Rajya Sabha member K Ravindra Kumar claimed that Lokesh, who is the son of Chandrababu Naidu, had received alerts from the phone company Apple, that his phones are being tapped using the Pegasus software by unknown agencies.
He further recalled that Lokesh received similar alerts a month back too.
A screenshot of the alert has also been attached along with the letter.
The alert read: “Apple is contacting you at this phone number because it is listed as a recovery number for Apple ID na*******@gmail.com. Apple sent an urgent security alert to the email addresses and primary phone numbers associated with that Apple ID. If you have not already seen the security alert, please check those addresses or ask the owner of that Apple ID to check the phone number and email addresses associated with their Apple ID for more information.”
Pegasus is a spyware developed by the Israeli cyber-arms company NSO Group that is designed to be covertly and remotely installed on mobile phones running iOS and Android.
Ravindra Kumar also alleged that the present Director General of Police (DGP), Rajendranath Reddy, and Intelligence Chief PSR Anjaneyulu, have become puppets of the YSRCP.
He claimed they are “Resorting to unethical and unlawful acts to undermine the prospects of NDA alliance partners in the upcoming Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Andhra Pradesh.”
In the coming simultaneous elections to assembly and Lok Sabha, the TDP is fighting alongside BJP and Jana Sena Party as part of the NDA alliance.
Elections for the 175-member Assembly and 25 Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh are scheduled on May 13.
Urging the ECI to take action against the officers, and appoint a neutral officer, Ravindra Kumar noted that DGP Rajendranath Reddy has been holding the position of DGP, AP in charge for the last two years.
He further wrote, “This is violative of orders of Supreme Court of India in the Prakash Singh case of 2006.”
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