Praneeth Starts Spilling the Beans in Police Custody

 Hyderabad: The special team probing the phone tapping case took the accused D. Praneeth Kumar into police custody after being given seven-day custody by the Nampally court here on Sunday.

Soon after his medical examination at Osmania General Hospital, the investigation team, headed by Jubilee Hills ACP P. Venkatagiri, questioned Praneeth for eight hours in the presence of his council. The entire questioning was video recorded, police sources said.

Later he was taken to the SIB office war room to recreate the scene. He confessed that he had replaced and destroyed 47 hard disks and hundreds of SIM cards that he had acquired from leaders and government officials.

Meanwhile, two special teams from the city headed to Srinagar Colony, Rajanna Sircilla district, where Praneeth’s house was searched.

During his remand, the cybercrime team had retrieved most of the data from the seized mobile and laptop, including a contact list having names of senior political leaders and police officials, reliable police sources said. His personal diary was also recovered from his house.

When the Congress government was formed, Praneeth was directed by his superiors to destroy the evidence. However, a senior police officer was tight-lipped and did not divulge any details.

“We need to get a better clarity in the case. Our teams are working 24/7. When we come to a conclusion, we will disclose everything before the media. It's too early at this time of investigation,” S.M. Vijay Kumar, DCP west zone and in-charge investigation officer in the case, said.

Praneeth cooperated with the investigation officers and revealed the names of top political leaders of the BRS government, including Erabelli Dayakar Rao, and senior police officers from the SIB.

In the first phase of investigation, action will be taken against the police officers who were clubbed with the accused.

Praneeth had tapped the phones of almost all political leaders from the BJP, TD, Congress and some BRS leaders, and their kin, he said.

“We are not relying only on Praneeth’s disclosures. Our teams are also making a parallel investigation of his associates since 2018,” a police officer said.

He added, “The case is very sensitive. We need to collect evidence, identify other accused, record statements and act on their information, all within the next six to seven days.”

Another officer said, “We have technical and physical evidence and the confession statement of Praneet. As regards time, we are following the court’s directions.”

After questioning, Praneet was taken back to Chanchalguda prison by 5 pm. He will be brought back for further investigation by 10 am on Monday.