HYDERABAD: On the fifth day of his seven-day custody, former Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB) DSP Praneeth Rao was questioned by Investigation Officer (IO) Jubilee Hills ACP P Venkatagiri, who was accompanied by West Zone DCP SM Vijay Kumar, at the Banjara Hills police station on Thursday in connection with the alleged phone tapping case.
Sources said the authorities have recovered the hard disk drives (HDDs) that Praneeth allegedly tried to destroy. They have been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) to see if any evidence can be retrieved.
The sources added that the hard drives were recovered from an undisclosed location in a forest where the former officer tried to destroy and dispose of them.
Meanwhile, the Telangana High Court dismissed a petition filed by Praneeth seeking conditional custody and alleging improper detention by the police.
‘Built a private army within SIB’
According to the sources, the probe has revealed that Praneeth functioned as a “private army within the SIB”, bypassing regulations and acting on his own accord.
Police officials suspect he operated under the direction of the former SIB chief and built a private army of officers. This team allegedly carried out phone-tapping operations across three shifts.
The probe further shows that Rao misused the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA), which is intended for the surveillance of extremists and militants, to tap into the phones of private individuals. He is also accused of establishing his own power base within the SIB.
Four cops questioned
In a separate development, the authorities served notices to four police personnel who earlier worked with the SIB and are currently posted in Warangal.
Investigators suspect these officers might have been part of Praneeth’s team and were part of his alleged illegal operations. They were questioned in an undisclosed location in the city.