Hyderabad, June 8, 2025
Telangana’s former Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB) chief T. Prabhakar Rao, a key accused in the phone tapping case, returned from the United States on Sunday.
He is likely to appear before the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Monday as per the undertaking given to the Supreme Court.
The retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, who has been in the United States for 14 months, returned to India as directed recently by the apex court.
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 the 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 B.V. 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.
Prabhakar Rao’s counsel had submitted to the court that he had to apply for special permission to return to India.
The court was told that he had gone to the US when the First Information Report (FIR) was registered against him. The retired IPS officer was subsequently declared an absconder, and his passport was also revoked. Stating that Prabhakar Rao has been hounded by the present government in Telangana, the lawyer also brought to the court’s notice that a red-corner notice has been issued against him.
The Nampally criminal court in Hyderabad last month issued proclamation orders against Prabhakar Rao for evading proceedings for over a year.
Prabhakar Rao, who was heading the SIB when the BRS was in power, was declared an absconder by the SIT probing the case.
He had allegedly constituted a team within SIB with his trusted aides, including Praneeth Rao, for surveillance of rival political leaders, their families and dissidents within the ruling party, businessmen, journalists and even judges.
The allegations under the previous government of the BRS came to light in March last year with the arrest of Deputy Superintendent of Police Praneeth Rao following a complaint from his superior, Additional SP D. Ramesh, with the SIB.
The police have so far named six accused in the case – Praneeth Rao, Additional SPs Thirupathanna and Bhujanga Rao and former DCP P. Radha Kishan Rao.(Agency)
