The Congress on Wednesday slammed Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao over raids on party strategist Sunil Kanugolu's office in Hyderabad, accusing the state's ruling TRS party of "throttling democracy".
The party had also tried to raise the matter in the Parliament.
Criticising KCR, Congress leader Pawan Khera, chairman of the media and publicity in the party's communications department, said the Telangana CM is taking action against the Congress party as it is raising issues related to the general public of the state.
"No paper, no warrant, no FIR... and they raid the war room of our party. Sunil Kanugolu is the member of the National Task Force of the AICC. His office gets raided... and they take away 50 computers, they take away all the data, they detain our leaders... and all this happened without any paper work," he said.
The Hyderabad Police named Congress strategist Sunil Kanugolu the prime accused in the cases registered over derogatory posts on Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, his daughter K. Kavitha and others.
On the basis of confessions of three persons taken into custody during a raid at an office in Madhapur on Tuesday night, the Cyber crime police made him the prime accused.
Additional Commissioner of Police Vikram Singh Mann told reporters that Kanugolu is absconding.
On the protest by the Congress, he said that the police acted in accordance with the law.
He further said the police were not aware that it was the social media office of the Congress party. He said there was no office name or board at the premises.
Telangana unit Congress chief A. Revanth Reddy had earlier said "cyber police terrorising the staff at Congress war room clearly indicates how terrified KCR is of Congress".
He said "it was an irony that KCR, his son and daughter have all been preaching about democracy and freedom of speech in recent times".
Four to five policemen in plain clothes had entered the office on Tuesday night and asked the staffer to switch off their mobile phones.