Cops tapped several judges’ phones: Telangana high court

HYDERABAD: The Telangana high court on Thursday acknowledged that it went through the contents of the sealed cover furnished by the state that charged the police officers accused in the phone tapping case of tapping calls and creating profiles of several high court judges.

At the same time, Justice K Sujana granted bail to two key accused cops, suspended ACP N Bhujanga Rao and retired DCP P Radhakishan Rao, on the grounds that investigation would take a longer time and that the trial would be delayed. The judge also referred to a Supreme Court order, cited by the duo's counsel, granting bail to Mekala Thirupathanna, a suspended additional SP who is named prime accused in the case.

The judge referred to the sealed cover information which stated that as part of a criminal conspiracy among all the accused in the case, profiles of not one or two, but several judges of the high court were prepared by tapping their phones.

"In fact, it was from the computer seized from one of the key accused, the police and FSL experts extracted information pertaining to the judges," the judge said. Justice Sujana said. "Both the accused before this court were arrested in March 2024 and even after long incarceration of these two accused in jail, there is no likelihood of the trial in the near future."

Justice K Sujana added that when the key accused, from whose personal computer the information about judges was collected, was granted bail by the Supreme Court, the high court too saw it fit to grant the duo bail with certain conditions.

Justice Sujana imposed a number of conditions on the accused cops.

Phone tapping: Accused told to furnish Rs 1 lakh bond
The accused police officers were directed to furnish a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh and two sureties. They were also told to appear before the SHO every Monday for eight weeks, besides surrendering their passports before the trial court. The two officers were told not to try and influence witnesses and directed the police to move a bail cancellation plea in case the accused violated the conditions.