Bahujan Samaj Party Telangana chief R. S. Praveen Kumar waves to supporters in Ankushapur village of the Sirpur Kagaznagar Assembly constituency. Mr. Kumar on January 3 said he would be lodging a complaint with the local police soon to ascertain attempts by the state-sponsored attackers to compromise his mobile communications.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Bahujan Samaj Party Telangana chief R. S. Praveen Kumar on January 3 said he would be lodging a complaint with the local police soon to ascertain attempts by the state-sponsored attackers to compromise his mobile communications.
“I am also going to move National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) about the attempts to hack my mobile phone and thus attack my personal liberty and privacy,” Mr. Kumar, who resigned from the Indian Police Service (IPS) and plunged into politics, told The Hindu over the phone. The former police officer of the rank of Additional Director General, who turned bitter critic of Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and the BJP-led Central government, said he was primarily suspecting the State government over attempts to hack his mobile phone. “The possibility of Central government compromising with my mobile communications cannot be ruled out though,” he said.
The cop-turned-politician said that on December 16 he received an email from Apple company stating that it believed that some state-sponsored attackers were ‘trying to remotely compromise the iPhone’ associated with his Apple ID. Two days ago, he tweeted about this email stating “governments are hacking my iPhone”. Noting that the mobile phone company wanted him to be cautious about this, the BSP State president said “I would not destroy my phone like you”.
He was apparently referring to Telangana CM K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s daughter Kalvakuntla Kavitha, an MLC, whose name figured in Enforcement Directorate (ED) report in the liquor scam. The report said Ms. Kavitha and others changed mobile phones and destroyed them to erase evidence.
Mr. Praveen Kumar said the mobile phone company said his was one of the very few phones which was being attacked by state-sponsored persons who were apparently using advanced technology tools. “It could be Pegasus spyware or even more sophisticated new technology the state-encouraged attackers are using to target my mobile communications,,” the BSP chief said replying to a question.
Under Section five and Clause three of the Telegraph Act, the state can track the mobile communications of five categories of people who pose threat to national security. “I don’t fall into any of these categories. Then, why target me?”, he sought to know. Recalling that he secured coveted police medals from the Central and State governments for his services as a police officer, the BSP chief said why would he do anything against the state having records of rendering impeccable service.
“Am I a terrorist or extremist for the state to track my movements or compromise with my communications?” the BSP State president asked alleging that the State government was behind the attempts to target his mobile phone. He said that he had been receiving inputs from his reliable sources that his mobile phone communications were being tracked by some powers that be. “It is for the state to investigate the matter and tell me the truth as to who is compromising my security, [and] privacy,” the BSP chief currently touring Sirpur Kagaznagar Assembly constituency said from Ankushapur village.