Hyderabad: The Panjagutta police is focusing on a 'key player' in the then BRS government who allegedly received inputs from Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB) former chief T. Prabhakar Rao, even as they allegedly established links between the police official and the then Pragathi Bhavan in handling the mass phone-tapping records.
Sources said the four police officers in the net — suspended DSP D. Praneeth Rao, additional SP rank officers N. Bhujanga Rao, M. Thirupatanna and P. Radha Kishan Rao — had used a number of SIM cards rather than the police department's officers' official numbers in their phone-tapping operations.
The investigators also suspected that the four officers had utilised SIM cards which were seized in different cases to tap the phones of then-Opposition leaders.
Armed with the data from WhatsApp and phone calls, a team led by west zone deputy commissioner of police (DCP) S.M. Vijay Kumar grilled Bhujanga Rao and Thirupatanna. It was reported that the Panjagutta police, for the first time focused the investigation on those who received data from the phone-tapping operation during the BRS government's tenure.
Sources said the accused police officers allegedly disclosed that Prabhakar Rao used to visit the Pragathi Bhavan along with the reports that were prepared by Praneeth Rao and the others.
Following court directions, the Panjagutta police took custody of Bhujanga Rao and Thirupatanna and shifted them to the Banjara Hills police station for questioning. The court has granted five-day police custody of the accused for questioning.
On Radha Kishan Rao's role, the investigators suspected that when he was DCP of the Hyderabad Task Force, he colluded with Praneeth Rao and others and supplied SIM cards to be used for phone-tapping, and misused his powers to force settlements on various disputes. Police produced Radha Kishan Rao before the magistrate and shifted him to judicial remand. Police are likely to file a petition seeking his custody.
Meanwhile, the police submitted a memo before the court adding the Telegraph Act, 1885 violations, following the confirmation of phone tapping incidents.
