Telangana snoopgate: SIB chief Prabhakar Rao made accused No 1

Even as the state police moved to name former State Intelligence Bureau (SIB) chief T Prabhakhar Rao as accused No. 1 in the alleged phone tapping case the state has found itself embroiled in, the saga got murkier with the arrest of two more high-ranking police officials.

The Hyderabad Police on Sunday (March 24) arrested Additional DCP Thirupathanna and Additional SP N Bhujanga Rao, even as the police issued a lookout circular (LOC) against T Prabhakar Rao under whose alleged watch phones of about 50 political leaders cutting across party lines were tapped illegally.

Thirupathanna and Bhujanga Rao were accused of being hand in glove with DSP D Praneeth Rao, now under suspension, who was arrested by Hyderabad Police on March 14 for allegedly destroying 50 hard drives containing lakhs of intelligence documents on orders from his boss, SIB chief Prabhakar Rao, a day after the Congress trounced the ruling BRS. Prabhakar Rao is in the US, as per some reports.

Praneeth Rao is also accused of developing profiles of a number of unknown persons and monitoring their activities. This is the third high-profile arrest even as the police, throwing its dragnet wider, is set to investigate 30 police officials, according to NDTV.

“Elements of the conspiracy are still under investigation, but there is a lot to come out," NDTV quoted Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy as saying.

What is the case?

The unfolding scandal hit the headlines with the arrest of Praneeth Rao, who worked with SIB under Prabhakhar Rao. The SIB chief ordered phone tapping during the tenure of BRS leader and former Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao. Though Prabhakhar Rao had superannuated in June 2020, he was appointed Officer on Special Duty to head the SIB, the anti-Naxal intelligence wing.

The SIB allegedly used his investigating skills to snoop on leaders of various parties, including those of the BRS. Congress leader Revanth Reddy had accused Prabhakhar Rao of tapping his and other party leaders’ phones and warned him of action after he came to power. No surprise then that the SIB chief put in his paper a day after KCR lost Assembly elections.

Over one lakh phone calls were tapped, according to NDTV, quoting unnamed sources.

Apart from CM Revanth Reddy, the SIB chief and his accomplices tapped phones of 50 prominent leaders, including those of the BJP, Congress and BRS. Phones of some Telugu actors and businessmen were also reportedly tapped for blackmailing, according to media reports.

The other kingpin

Shravan Rao, who runs a Telugu TV channel called I News, is the other kingpin of the racket. He is alleged to have helped Prabhakhar Rao put in place the phone-tapping equipment, an Israel import. The police raided his house, apart from that of the former SIB chief’s in Hyderabad, and about a dozen other locations.

Shravan Rao is also believed to have left the country and the police have issued a lookout notice against him as well.

What role did Praneeth Rao play?

The former senior police official allegedly ran this snooping operation from the SIB office. He had two rooms for his exclusive use and ran 17 systems issued to him by the SIB, according the police FIR. He is accused of erasing around 10 lakh call records a day after the Assembly election results were declared. He also destroyed 50 hard drives containing reams of official electronic data recorded over decades along with information illegally gathered by him, which he used to blackmail people.

He has been booked under the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act and the Information Technology Act and has been charged with criminal breach of trust, criminal conspiracy and destroying evidence, among others, under the various sections of the IPC.