Phone tapping case: RPO cancels passports of accused police officers

Hyderabad: In a significant development in the Telangana phone tapping case, the authorities on Saturday canceled the passports of key accused, former SIB chief Prabhakar Rao and another accused, Aruvela Shravan Rao.

The Regional Passport Office (RPO) initiated this action following a report from the Hyderabad police. A lookout notice is pending against Prabhakar Rao and Sharavan Rao, who reportedly fled to the United States after they were named as accused persons in the phone tapping case on March 10.

It is reported that the Special Operations Team (SOT) was created in the Special Intelligence Branch (SIB) for surveillance of rival political leaders and their families and dissidents within the BRS party. Prabhakar Rao allegedly formed the SOT with his trusted aides including DSP D. Praneeth Rao, who is the first police officer to be arrested in the case.

A few months ago, Prabakar Rao had written a letter to the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Jubilee Hills, and informed him that his return to India was being postponed due to his ill health. Rao wrote about his existing problem of malignant cancer and added that he had developed high Blood Pressure due to stress after a case was registered against him in Hyderabad.