Phone tapping case: main accused appears before West Zone police

Former Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB) chief of Telangana T. Prabhakar Rao arrives at Jubilee Hills police station for questioning in Hyderabad, Monday (June 9, 2025). | Photo Credit: NAGARA GOPAL

Former Special Investigation Bureau (SIB) chief T. Prabhakar Rao, who is the main accused in the phone tapping case, appeared before the West Zone police on Monday (June 9). He has been asked to appear again on June 11 for further questioning.

An official, close to the investigation, confirmed that Mr. Rao was questioned for close to eight hours. “He arrived at the police station at 11 a.m. and left around 7 p.m. with one hour break for lunch,” the official said.

This comes a day after Mr. Rao landed in Hyderabad on Sunday. The Supreme Court granted him protection from arrest, ordering the accused to appear before the investigating officer within three days of receiving the passport/travel documents.

Mr. Rao has been citing ill health to stay in the US after the case was registered by Punjagutta police of Telangana more than a year ago.

The phone tapping case surfaced after former Special Intelligence Branch (SIB) DSP Praneeth Rao was arrested on March 13, 2024. Panjagutta police detained him from his residence in Rajanna-Sircilla district, following a complaint by his superior, Additional SP D. Ramesh, who alleged that Rao had unlawfully intercepted the phone calls of several high-profile political leaders and officials.

Meanwhile, Union Minister of State for Home Bandi Sanjay Kumar demanded in Choppadandi in Karimnagar that the government put up a strong legal battle against former SIB chief T. Prabhakar Rao and also prosecute persons who directed him.

He said the surrender of the former police official and appearing for an inquiry appeared to be a well-crafted plan following ‘counselling’ by former chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s family in the United States.

The public has the right to know under whose instructions the phone tapping was done and what was done with that data? Who received the recordings? Who were blackmailed using those audio files? he asked. The former SIB chief has been responsible for the downfall of many activists, including himself. “It’s not about tapping just Chief Minister Revanth Reddy’s phone, he tapped the phones of Congress, BJP, BRS leaders and judges, including mine,” charged Mr. Sanjay Kumar.

Published - June 09, 2025 11:21 pm IST