HYDERABAD: Police will be taking suspended DSP (SIB) D. Praneeth Rao alias Praneeth Kumar into a seven-day police custody as part of their investigation into the phone tapping case. The police filed a request petition in court for this on Thursday.
Praneeth Rao was arrested from his house in Rajanna Sircilla district on Tuesday and was interrogated until Wednesday evening. After his interrogation, he was produced before the court and remanded to Chanchalguda central prison.
During the interrogation, Praneeth Rao admitted that he had tapped over 10 lakh mobile phones from 2018 to 2023 as per the instructions of his superiors. He also revealed that he had destroyed most of the audio data from 17 hard disks, his laptop, pen drives, and war rooms in Rajanna Sircilla and Warangal districts on December 4.
Praneeth Rao disclosed that he was tasked with tapping the phones of senior politicians from various parties, as well as IPS officers from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Additionally, he and his team also tapped phones of family members of political leaders during the liquor scam and provided the recorded data to his superiors and other senior officials.
Further investigation has revealed a nexus involving politicians and police officials. The police have obtained vital evidence and lists of names from Praneeth Rao, and plan to further investigate the involvement of other officers and civilians in the scam.
The police are also looking into how Praneeth Rao was promoted to DSP despite not participating in any Maoist operations during his 17-year career. DCP S.M. Vijay Kumar stated that more names of accused officers, civilians, and leaders involved in the scam will be disclosed as the investigation progresses.