Hyderabad: Former Telangana Special Investigation Bureau (SIB) chief T Prabhakar Rao who is prime accused in the phone tapping case appeared before the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in Hyderabad on Monday, June 9.
Rao was questioned for 8 hours by west-zone Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) SM Vijay Kumar at the Jubilee Hills police station on Monday. He was asked to appear for questioning once again on Wednesday, June 11.
As per reports, Prabhakar Rao wasn’t cooperating with the SIT during the questioning, and has maintained that he had nothing to with the tapping of phones. He told the investigators that as the chief of the intelligence bureau, he only took decisions under the purview of the department.
He reportedly asked the SIT officials to present any evidence of him giving any orders for tapping phones. Informing them that there would be a review committee for tapping phones, he told them that he was not a member in that committee.
Reports stated that from 11 am he just sat silently for three hours, and only after the SIT officials started presenting the allegations specifically made against him by Radhakishan Rao, Bhujanga Rao, Tirupathanna, and Praneeth Rao, who have implicated him in their statements, that he started talking.
The SIT officials have gathered evidence not only from the four police officers already arrested in the case, but have also received complaints from businessmen and politicians, who had alleged that even their phones were tapped during the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government.
He returned to Hyderabad on Sunday evening after spending 15 months in the united States (US). This is the first time Rao has appeared before the SIT since the inquiry began.
He recently gave an undertaking to the Supreme Court that he will return to India soon after receiving emergency travel documents and cooperate with the investigation.
The SIT hopes to make progress in the case relating to the alleged tapping of phones of politicians, businessmen, journalists and even judges under the previous government of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS).
The Supreme Court on May 29 ordered authorities to return the passport to Prabhakar Rao to enable him to return to India.
The apex court had also directed Prabhakar Rao to give an affidavit of undertaking that, within three days of the receipt of the passport/travel document, he will return to India.
A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Satish Chandra Sharma had passed the order on a petition by Prabhakar Rao, challenging the Telangana High Court order dismissing his petition for anticipatory bail.
The bench also barred police from taking any coercive step against him till further orders.
(With inputs from IANS.)
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