Telangana news: Suspended DSP arrested for 'tapping phones of opposition leaders' during BRS regime

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Telangana Chief minister and Congress leader Revanth Reddy-led government had suspended Praneeth Rao on 5 March for allegedly tapping phones of opposition leader when the K Chandrashekar Rao-led Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) was in power in Telangana, reports Deccan Chronicles. According to media reports, Praneeth Rao was a officer with the Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB) in Telangana Police.

He had been recently transferred to the DGP office. A criminal conspiracy case had been registered by the Special Investigation Branch (SIB) against former Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Dugyala Praneeth Rao, police said.

According to news agency ANI, Praneeth Rao is also known as a close aide to former CM K Chandrashekar Rao. Notably, Revanth Reddy had earlier accused the BRS government of tapping the phones of opposition leaders.

-According to the FIR, Praneeth Rao, while working in SIB, had two rooms exclusively for himself, unlike other teams, and operated with 17 systems issued to him. -Praneeth Rao also had an exclusive and dedicated leased line with an internet connection.

Through this setup, he allegedly developed profiles of unknown persons and monitored them, without authorization and illegally -Upon investigation, it was revealed that Praneeth, by misusing and abusing his official position, regularly copied intelligence information into his drives and kept it under his custody. -It was further alleged that after the prevision election results, on December 4, 2023, Praneeth Rao turned off the cameras and destroyed old hard drives containing data gathered over decades, including information he obtained, to avoid suspicion -To avoid any criminal action against himself and others and to destroy the evidence Praneeth