Hyderabad: The Supreme Court on Tuesday, August 5, deferred hearing the bail plea of former Telangana Special Investigation Bureau (SIB) chief Prabhakar Rao in the phone tapping case to August 25.
The interim relief granted to Rao will continue till the next hearing. The Telangana government also sought time to submit a status report.
In July, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the phone tapping case sought approval of the apex court to arrest Rao. But the top court stayed his arrest till August 5.
Summary of phone tapping case
The phone tapping case emerged last year soon after the Congress was voted to power in the 2023 Assembly elections.
It is alleged that a special operations team (SOT) led by former deputy superintendent of police (DSP) D Praneeth Rao, was involved in tapping the phones of around 1,200 individuals, including political leaders in the Opposition, bureaucrats, journalists, activists, judges, and business figures, especially around the Assembly elections. It was carried out during the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) tenure under the chief ministreralchip of K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR).
On March 13, D Praneeth Rao was arrested and ten days later, three more officers, including former deputy commissioner of police (DCP), P Radhakishan Rao, Bhujanga Rao and Tirupathanna were also apprehended.
Between December 4 and 5, reporters surfaced that a special operations team allegedly destroyed hard disks and data after switching off CCTV, disposing of evidence in the Musi River. Prime accused Prabhakar Rao fled to the United States to evade arrest.
Then on May 29, the Supreme Court granted interim protection to Rao, ordering restoration or issuance of passport/travel documents so he can return and cooperate within three days. Rao finally arrives in India on June 8 and appears before the SIT for questioning.
Rao was grilled for 40 hours and stated he worked on orders from above, indirectly pointing at the previous BRS government under KCR.
Telangana Congress chief B Mahesh Kumar Goud claims his phone and over 650 others were tapped and alleges political targeting, naming KCR and his son and party working president, KT Rama Rao (KTR), as the principal orchestrators.
