Andhra government to brief High Court on ‘phone tracking’

VIJAYAWADA: The state government is likely to hold consultations with the High Court on a report published in a vernacular daily about the alleged phone tracking of judges and appraise it of the larger ‘conspiracy’ behind the same.

The report in question claimed that phones of at least five judges of the high court had been compromised and insinuated that the government could be behind it. Taking strong exception to it, the state government served legal notices on two media houses. 

Government sources suspected that the report was fabricated deliberately to drive a wedge between the judiciary and the government and alleged, “some political forces and a section of the media have hatched a conspiracy to mislead the judiciary and tarnish the image of the government.” Meanwhile, the opposition TDP accused the State government of taking unconstitutional steps. 

“Reports have surfaced of attempts to tap phones of the judges. This is a serious issue. There are also reports that phones of TDP leaders are being tapped... This is a crime,” former MLA and TDP leader Bonda Umamaheswara Rao alleged.