Hyderabad: The special teams probing suspended SIB DSP D. Praneeth Kumar alias Praneeth Rao for alleged mass phone tapping and destruction of evidence, reportedly arrested two inspector-rank officers from Warangal district on Tuesday, which is the third day of his police custody.
The arrests were made after Praneeth Rao confessed that the two arrested inspectors were his associates in phone tapping done at the Warangal district Special Intelligence Branch (SIB) special operations team (SOT) war room.
“The inspectors have been brought to the city and are being interrogated at a safe place,” reliable police sources disclosed.
During questioning, Praneeth Rao disclosed that, apart from 47 hard disks, he had also destroyed the recording devices to make them completely useless at the SIB office war room.
According to sources, Praneeth Rao had also disclosed to the investigating officials that he had hidden devices, hard disks and pen drivers wrapped in a polythene cover in the forests of Vikarabad and Rajanna Sircilla districts. Special teams have left for the forest areas.
Police also suspect that the owner of a media company is behind Praneeth Kumar. They believe that the accused tapped the numbers given by the owner of the media company.
The police during the investigation reportedly learnt from Praneeth Rao that some of the servers to tap mobiles were sponsored by a media group owner on the instructions of former government leaders. The same media group owner reportedly sponsored two servers placed in Rajanna Sircilla district and Warangal district.
Over 30 police personnel holding the rank of circle inspector, sub-inspector, head constable, constable from SIB and several police officers from different districts reportedly are a part in unauthorised mass phone tapping.
When some of the officers objected to illegal tapping, Praneeth Rao assured them that he had connections with top political leaders and persuaded them to carry out the task by promising them accelerated promotions, the police sources disclosed.
The private sponsored equipment and government (SIB) equipment were separately placed in Rajanna Sircilla and Warangal district war rooms, and an additional secret war room was set up in a private school in Jubilee Hills under the directions of former government leaders, the reliable police sources disclosed.
