The Supreme Court of India.
Credit: PTI File Photo
New Delhi: The Telangana government on Tuesday contended before the Supreme Court that former chief of the Special Intelligence Bureau, T Prabhakar Rao, an accused in the phone-tapping case, was not cooperating; he had formatted electronic devices and destroyed vital evidence while under the court's protective order.
A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and R Mahadevan told Rao to submit the password of his iCloud/ cloud account to the state police in the presence of forensic experts.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the state government, submitted that the investigation was not progressing due to Rao's “non-cooperation”.
He said he will present some facts, which will shock the court's conscience.
Mehta alleged that Rao had formatted electronic devices and destroyed vital evidence while under the court's protective order.
Senior advocate Dama Seshadri Naidu, representing Rao, refuted the allegations and asserted that he had been fully cooperating with the probe.
The counsel said his client was summoned 11 times and interrogated for several hours, and it was video recorded.
Naidu said that Rao had forgotten the password to his old iCloud account.
The counsel assured the court that the officer was willing to reset the password in the presence of the police's forensic experts.
Naidu claimed that lawmakers were present during his interrogation.
On this, the bench said, “It cannot be a Tamasha! How can MPs and MLAs come and interrogate? They cannot be spectators or part of the investigation.”
Mehta, however, said that he would file a response on the issue.
Mehta contended that, as a result of the formatting of digital devices, there was no purpose in interrogating him with the protection of the interim orders of this court.
He contended the custodial interrogation of Rao was required.
Mehta said Rao should furnish the IDs and passwords of iCloud/cloud of digital devices submitted by him to the investigating agencies, and also the backup of these devices prior to formatting.
The bench asked the counsel regarding the deletion of data and the integrity of the devices. Naidu submitted that it is protocol due to sensitive information, and the department's computer experts deleted it.
The bench said he alone had access to the iCloud account and questioned, “What is the guarantee that you have not deleted anything from it as of now?” Naidu replied that all activity logs could be verified by experts.
Mehta said he is not cooperating because of the protective umbrella of this court's interim protection.
He claimed Rao was intercepting phones of important people, not just politicians, and after filing of anticipatory bail application, he formatted the device.
"It is our case that he has a backup, as he purchased 15 hard discs, but he says he doesn't have anything," he said.
“It is as good as a new device (after formatting the device). It is not my surmise. The Central Forensic Science Laboratory says that,” Mehta added.Naidu claimed that the investigation was politically motivated.
The court extended the interim protection from coercive action to Rao and directed him to appear before the investigation officer and cooperate in the investigation. The bench fixed the matter for further hearing on November 18.
On May 29, the apex court granted interim protection from coercive action to Rao and directed him to give an undertaking that he would return to India within three days after the receipt of his passport.
Rao has moved the top court challenging an order of the Telangana High Court, which dismissed his plea seeking anticipatory bail. On May 22, a Hyderabad court issued a proclamation order against Rao in the phone tapping case.