Phone tapping case: Absconding former SIB chief Prabhakar Rao declared prime accused

HYDERABAD: After nearly one and a half months of investigation into the sensational phone tapping case, the Hyderabad police declared the absconding former Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB) chief, T Prabhakar Rao, as the prime accused in this case. Ever since the investigation started, Prabhakar Rao has been at the center of controversy.It was on Monday that the agency, without any publicity, informed the important development to the Nampally court. The police have not only made Prabhakar Rao an accused but also declared him as Accused No. 1 by rearranging the sequence of accused.Along with Prabhakar Rao, the police made A Shravan Kumar, who is a senior executive of a vernacular media, also an accused in this case. He is also declared as absconding.Prior to this development, the police had declared four members—former SIB's DSP D Praneeth Rao, additional superintendents of police Bhujanga Rao and Tirupathanna, and former DCP (Task Force) Radhakishan Rao—as accused. Earlier, Praneeth Rao was the prime accused, and now he is replaced by the absconding Prabhakar Rao as accused No. 1. Shravan was declared as accused No. A-6.Already, a Look Out Circular (LOC) has been pending against both Prabhakar Rao and Shravan. Prabhakar Rao is suspected to be in the USA.Though Prabhakar Rao has been accused of being the key conspirator in the phone tapping-cum-erasing of Intelligence data case, the investigators for a long time avoided officially declaring him an accused. Finally, on Monday, he was officially made an accused.The police have been alleging that on the instructions of Prabhakar Rao, a Special Operation Team (SOT) was set up under his supervision in the SIB office, Greenlands, during the BRS government. The SOT was working, allegedly under Praneeth Rao, where profiles of different opposition leaders and other private persons were created to keep surveillance on them during the BRS government.The SIB is a specialized anti-naxal Intelligence unit, but the investigating agency charged Prabhakar Rao and other accused of misusing its surveillance systems to keep tabs on opposition leaders, their kith and kin, their friends, businessmen, and others.By doing surveillance on opposition leaders, the accused were allegedly involved in targeted cash seizures related to opposition parties. After the BRS government lost the 2023 assembly elections, Praneeth Rao, in an alleged conspiracy with Prabhakar Rao and a few other accused, erased the phone tapping data besides destroying the electronic gadgets by using electric cutters.