Two Telangana ASPs sent to prison in phone-tapping case

Two police officers of the rank of additional superintendent of police in Telangana were sent to judicial custody for 14 days from Sunday in connection with the phone-tapping and destruction of evidence case.

The ASPs include – N Bhujanga Rao, ASP in Bhupalpally district and Tirupathanna, ASP of City Security Wing, Hyderabad. They were produced before a magistrate at his residence.

The magistrate sent the two officials to judicial custody till April 6 after hearing both sides. Both the officials were booked under section 409 of IPC (criminal breach of trust by public servant) and section 70 of the Information Technology Act.

The two officials earlier served in Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB) as Deputy Superintendents of Police.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) has intensified the investigation into the allegations that they tapped phones of opposition leaders on the directions of the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government.

The duo was arrested after their names surfaced during the questioning of D. Praneeth Rao, DSP of SIB, who was suspended and arrested earlier for destroying evidence in the phone tapping case.

Praneeth Rao was arrested on March 13 for erasing data by destroying 50 hard disks after the defeat of BRS in Assembly elections. He reportedly told police that he acted on the orders of the then SIB chief Prabhakar Rao.

Police teams conducted searches at houses of Prabhakar Rao, Bhujanga Rao, Tirupathanna, former additional DCP of the City Task Force P Radha Kishan Rao, retired DSP Sambasiva Rao and iNews TV channel MD Shravan Rao,

Meanwhile, police have issued lookout notices for Prabhakar Rao, Radha Kishan Rao and Shravan Rao. They allegedly left India after Praneeth Rao’s arrest.