Hyderabad: Aruvela Shravan Rao, a journalist from Hyderabad who is accused in the phone tapping case returned to the city on Saturday March 29.
Rao was questioned for six hours by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) officials in the Jubilee Hills Assistant Commissioner of Police’s (ACP) office. The journalist was wanted for a year, and a red corner notice was issued by the Hyderabad police in this regard.
The journalist who reportedly fled to the United States arrived in Hyderabad early on Saturday and appeared before the police. Jubilee Hills ACP refused to tell whether Kumar was deported from the US.
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The journalist was asked on whose instruction he purchased the phone tapping equipment and who were the politicians and police officers visiting him frequently during the Bharat Rastra Samithi’s (BRS) tenure.
The Supreme Court of India granted interim relief to the accused, Aruvel Shravan Kumar, allowing him to participate in the investigation while he is currently in the United States.
Shravan Kumar had filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) challenging the Telangana High Court’s denial of his anticipatory bail.
During the proceedings, senior advocate Dama Sheshadri Naidu argued on behalf of the petitioner, requesting not only the issuance of notices to the respondents but also interim relief from arrest.
The state government’s lawyer opposed this request, citing that a Red Corner Notice had been issued against the petitioner.
Justice Nagarathna intervened, questioning whether the state could arrest Shravan Kumar immediately.
The state’s lawyer replied that they could not do so as he was hiding in America.
Justice Nagarathna then suggested that the state should initiate official procedures to bring him back, emphasizing that granting interim relief would benefit the state as it would compel Shravan Kumar to return to India.
The court noted that if they did not grant this interim relief, there was a possibility that he might never return to India.
