Telangana phone tapping case: Ex-SIB chief Prabhakar Rao defers return from USA due to bad health

Telangana's former SIB chief, retired IPS officer T Prabhakar Rao, who was the prime accused in the sensational phone tapping case, may not face investigators in person for now.

Rao, who is away in the US, said that upon the advice of doctors, his health condition does not allow him to travel back to India, and he is ready to assist in the investigation in any kind of questioning over video conferencing or teleconferencing until the time he returns to India.

Earlier, Telangana police had issued lookout notices against Prabhakar Rao.

According to sources in Telangana police, Rao was supposed to return to India on June 26 and the police were getting ready to take him into custody. However he wrote to the investigating officer on June 23 expressing his inability to return to Hyderabad anytime soon.

In the letter that came to light recently, Rao said, "In addition to my existing problem of malignant cancer, I have developed high Blood Pressure due to the stress, I have been subjected to, after registration of the current case and by making wild and false allegations against me with constant deliberate leaks to media, there by assassinating my character and reputation even prior to making me as an accused in this case."

"All this was a great shock to me and my family which led to further deterioration of my physical and mental health and I am now newly suffering from cardiac and renal problems for which I am seeking appointments of specialists in Oncology, Cardiology and Urology in USA which is forcing me to defer my return journey originally scheduled on June 26.” the letter read.

Rao further said that his consulting doctors advised him not to travel out of the USA till his health is completely stabilised as it may have grave consequences if not diagnosed and treated on time.

“However, I am willing to fully cooperate with the investigation and provide any information which you think is in my exclusive knowledge and possession through email. I don't think that my non-appearance before at an earlier point of time will hamper the investigation in anyway as it is already evident from the outcome of the investigation and filing of the chargesheet,” he added.

It has now emerged that he had a phone conversation with the investigating officer on March 22 and 23 during which Rao said he had not committed any illegal acts.

“ I would once again want to reiterate what I conveyed to you via our whatsapp call on March 22 and 23, that I have not committed nor directed anyone to commit any illegal acts or omissions while discharging my duties as a police officer at any time including as Chief of SIB. While assuring to cooperate and answer all queries in person as soon as my health improves and upon my return to India, I am prepared to assist in the investigation in any kind of questioning over video conferencing or teleconferencing till the time I return to India. I request you to conduct a fair and unbiased investigation as per the provisions of law,” he further said in the letter.

The ongoing investigation into the alleged phone tapping during the previous BRS regime by a DSP in Special Intelligence Branch (SIB) of Telangana police, Dugyala Praneeth Rao had revealed that he had a huge cache of data and recorded at least 10 lakh two way conversations over a period of time. According to sources in Hyderabad police, he had operated three private war rooms with exclusive private servers to carry out the phone tapping.

These conversations include the then opposition leader and the present chief minister, A Revanth Reddy, realtors, bureaucrats and also some media personalities. Rao was accused of destroying the data by damaging the hard drives by burning them immediately after the results of assembly polls were out on December 3 last year.

He had committed the alleged crime by switching off the CCTV cameras. Interestingly he had also replaced the hard disks with new ones to cover up his act.