Hyderabad: Throwing a new light into the unauthorised phone tapping case probe that is underway, city police commissioner Kothakota Sreenivasa Reddy on Wednesday aired his suspicions that the prime accused in the case and former SIB chief T. Prabhakar Rao could be shuttling between Canada and some other country since the expiry of his visa in July.
Speaking exclusively to Deccan Chronicle, Reddy said that there was every possibility that Prabhakar Rao had moved to Canada or a nearby country to buy time and to keep his travel documents valid.
“We have built a strong case against him in Hyderabad but his physical presence is required to take the probe to the next level,” he said.
Referring to the Red Corner Notice (RCN) against Rao, the police commissioner pointed out that he had personally met the director of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) asking him to expedite the process for issuing the RCN, which it is empowered, against Rao.
Soon after the CBI issues RCNs against Prabhakar and fellow-accused Sharavan Kumar, SIT will speed up their coordination with the US government and federal agencies besides approaching the court calling for Rao’s physical appearance in order to go about the prosecution.
Reliable police sources said that Sreenivasa Reddy, who is heading the illegal phone tapping case, has submitted the status of the investigation and court proceedings to the CBI director, who has ‘given his nod’.
“Our investigation will be transparent and accurate. Very soon Rao and Shravan Kumar will be in our custody. Like the SIT investigators, even the court is quite serious about the presence of the two accused for prosecution,” the commissioner said.
“We only need their physical presence for interrogation. The other accused have confessed their involvement while in police custody. The SIT team has done an excellent job,” he added.
SIT has already collected technical, physical, circumstantial and confessional evidence against Rao from which there is no escape for him, the sources said.
Reliable police sources said that Rao’ subordinates, including D. Praneeth Rao, Bhujanga Rao, G. Radha Kishan Rao and several other officers had, in their confessions during police custody, spilled the beans vis-à-vis the roles of Prabhakar and Sharavan Kumar before SIT sleuths.
“After meeting the CBI director, we have written to the US Embassy and immigration department stating that Prabhakar Rao is wanted in a very serious case and he was misusing the visa,” Srineevasa Reddy had said recently.
