HYDERABAD: An advocate of
Telangana High Court, Balla Ravindranath, who was listed as a target by the Pegasus spyware, and was warned by WhatsApp, has been named as an accused in a Maoist conspiracy case by Telangana police.
Ravindranath, an activist lawyer, who is also the general secretary of Committee for Release of Political Prisoners (CRPP), has been fighting cases of Maoist leaders. But police say the committee is just a Maoist front. Ravindranath on October 20 received a message from WhatsApp and Citizen Lab of Canada alerting that his WhatsApp communication has been compromised.
Separately, the remand report of FIR number 105 of 2019 booked by police in Telangana’s Bhadradri Kothagudem district, has top Maoists, including Haribushan, Telangana state committee secretary and others, including Balla Ravindranath alias Jeson as accused 39 and his wife, Savitri as accused number 40.Police have booked 45 persons, most of them rights activists, besides underground cadres of CPI Maoists as accused. John Scott-Railton, senior researcher at the Citizen Lab of the University of Toronto in Canada, in his message on October 7, to Ravindranath, wrote, “This message concerns a specific digital risk that we believe that you face. Citizen Lab has been investigating this case. Your connection is not good.”
On October 29, Ravindranath received a message from the official business account of WhatsApp, which read: “WhatsApp cares about your privacy security. In May, we stopped an attack where an advance cyber actor exploited our video calling to install malware on user devices. There’s a possibility this number was compromised.”
When asked, Ravindranath said he has been taking up issues of political prisoners, including Maoists and furnish sureties for bails.
Ravindranath said, “I was monitoring the cases of Maoist central committee members, Kobad Gandhi and professor Saibaba and Sadhanala Ramakrishna, when I received a message from Citizen Labs about the serious threat. But I ignored it thinking it’s a spam.” The police found four letters written in Telugu in the name of CPI Maoist Telangana State Committee member, and some SD memory cards. One of the letters addresses Ravindranath as “dear comrade”.
Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India. Don't miss daily games like Crossword, Sudoku, Location Guesser and Mini Crossword. Spread love this holiday season with these Christmas wishes, messages, and quotes.Sudhakar Reddy Udumula is the Editor (Investigation) at the Times...
Read MoreSudhakar Reddy Udumula is the Editor (Investigation) at the Times of India, Hyderabad. Following the trail of migration and drought across the rustic landscape of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Sudhakar reported extensively on government apathy, divisive politics, systemic gender discrimination, agrarian crisis and the will to survive great odds. His curiosity for peeking behind the curtain triumphed over the criminal agenda of many scamsters in the highest political and corporate circles, making way for breaking stories such as Panama Papers Scam, Telgi Stamp Paper Scam, and many others. His versatility in reporting extended to red corridors of left-wing extremism where the lives of security forces and the locals in Maoist-affected areas were key points of investigation. His knack for detail provided crucial evidence of involvement from overseas in terrorist bombings in Hyderabad.
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