Hyderabad: Justice Juvvadi Sri Devi of the Telangana High Court reserved orders in a bail petition filed by Mekala Tirupatanna, former additional DCP and an accused in the phone-tapping case.
Public prosecutor Palle Rajeshwar Rao opposed the bail on the ground that he was one of the six police officers who, during the BRS rule, had illegally tapped the phones of prominent leaders, including the incumbent Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, district collectors and revenue officials on the instructions of A. Prabhakar Rao, former chief of the Special Intelligence Branch (SIB).
V. Surender Rao, senior counsel appearing for the petitioner, said Tirupatanna was part of the “united front” teams created in the SIB and was carrying out duties that were entrusted to him. Moreover, the call data records furnished by the public prosecutor were not the subject matter of the charge sheet, which did not mention that the petitioner had not committed any offence but was only monitoring the calls.
