Hyderabad: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the phone-tapping case is likely to seek extension of police custody of former Telangana Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB) chief T. Prabhakar Rao, who is the prime accused in the case.
Prabhakar Rao’s police custody will end on Thursday. The Supreme Court will hear the matter on Friday.
The former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer surrendered before the investigating officer on December 12, a day after the Supreme Court directed him to surrender for custodial interrogation for a week.
When his police custody came to an end on December 18, the investigating authorities approached the Supreme Court seeking further extension of the custody on the grounds that he was not cooperating in the probe and refusing to divulge key information.
The nine-member fresh SIT constituted by the Telangana government on December 18 questioned Prabhakar Rao.
The panel also grilled other accused – former Task Force DCP T. Radha Kishan Rao, Additional SP Mekala Thirupathanna and a television channel owner N. Sravan Kumar.
The SIT officials also quizzed Prabhakar Rao in the presence of another accused and former DSP D. Praneeth Rao.
The fresh SIT is working under the overall supervision of Hyderabad Police Commissioner V. C. Sajjanar to probe the alleged phone tapping during the previous BRS regime.
Ramagundam Police Commissioner Ambar Kishore Jha, Siddipet Commissioner of Police S. M. Vijay Kumar. Deputy Commissioners of Police (DCPs) Ritiraj, K. Narayan Reddy, Greyhounds Group Commander M. Ravinder Reddy, Additional DCP K. S. Rao, Assistant Commissioner of Police P. Venkatagiri, Deputy Superintendents of Police Ch. Sridhar and Nagender Rao are members of the SIT.
ACP, Jubilee Hills, Venkatagiri, continues as the investigating officer in the case registered at Panjagutta Police Station in Hyderabad in March last year.
The phone tapping case first surfaced on March 10, 2024, when D Ramesh, the Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) of the Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB), registered a complaint with the police, accusing Deputy Superintendent of Police D Praneeth Rao of illegal phone tapping.
On March 13, 2024, the police arrested Praneeth Rao, and further investigations revealed a large-scale surveillance operation targeting various individuals, including political opponents, businessmen, journalists, and even judges.
The police have named six accused in the case, including former SIB chief Prabhakar Rao, DSP Praneeth Rao, Additional SPs Thirupathanna and N Bhujanga Rao and former DCP Radha Kishan Rao, besides Sravan Kumar, a television channel owner.
The accused were booked under Sections 409 (criminal breach of trust), 427 (mischief), 201 (disappearance of evidence) and 120-B read with 34 (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC, besides Section 3 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act (PDPP Act), and Sections 65, 66 and 70 of the IT Act.
Prabhakar Rao has been accused of orchestrating the illegal surveillance of several prominent individuals during the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) rule. He had allegedly constituted a special team in the SIB to tap the phones of those working against the BRS government.
After the defeat of the BRS in the 2023 elections, Prabhakar Rao resigned from his post. He had left for the US just before the case was registered against him.
The Supreme Court, on May 29, directed authorities to arrange an emergency travel document to enable Prabhakar Rao to return.
As per an undertaking given to the Supreme Court, Prabhakar Rao returned to India on June 8.
(IANS)
