Key accused in phone tapping case Sravan Rao appears before SIT for questioning

Hyderabad: In a significant development in the ongoing investigation into phone tapping allegations, key accused A Sravan Rao appeared before the Special Investigation Team (SIT) for questioning on Saturday. Arriving in Hyderabad from Dubai in the early hours, he presented himself at the Jubilee Hills ACP office for questioning.

The Supreme Court recently directed Sravan Rao, who owns a media house, to cooperate with the police investigation while instructing the police that he should not be arrested. SIT believes his questioning will bring crucial facts to light in the case.

Sravan Rao, the sixth accused in the phone tapping case, had previously sought refuge in the USA. Following the registration of the case at Panjagutta Police Station on March 10, 2024, he initially fled to London before promptly relocating to the USA. He remained abroad for several months, evading SIT questioning, which eventually led to the issuance of a Red Corner Notice against him.

Recently, Sravan Rao filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court challenging the Telangana High Court's decision to deny him anticipatory bail. The Supreme Court directed that he should not be arrested and also asked him to cooperate with the police in the probe.

Along with Sravan Rao, Red Corner Notice was issued against former Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB) Chief T Prabhakar Rao, who is an accused in the case.

The ongoing investigation into the alleged phone tapping during the previous BRS regime by DSP Dugyala Praneeth Rao in Special Intelligence Branch (SIB) of Telangana police 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, 2023.