Hyderabad: On Tuesday, the Telangana High Court heard a petition filed by T Prabhakar Rao, the former head of the Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB), who is facing charges in a phone-tapping case. He requested anticipatory bail, which would protect him from being arrested before the trial begins.
During the hearing, senior lawyer T Niranjan Reddy, representing Rao, told the court that he had also submitted an interim application requesting that Rao not be arrested. He said that if this protection is granted, Rao would return to India and cooperate with the investigation. Reddy also pointed out a similar case involving Shravan Rao, the Managing Director of I-News, who was granted temporary protection from arrest by the Supreme Court.
Shravan Rao’s earlier request for anticipatory bail was rejected by the High Court, but he later approached the Supreme Court. There, he was given protection from arrest until the next hearing, with instructions to cooperate with the police. Prabhakar Rao is now asking for the same kind of protection.
Reddy also emphasized that Prabhakar Rao is a former police officer with many years of service and is not a criminal. He argued that without protection, Rao could be arrested as soon as he lands at the airport.
On the other side, senior lawyer Siddharth Luthra, representing the State government, disagreed. He denied claims that Rao’s passport had been cancelled and that a red-corner notice (international alert for arrest) had been issued, making it difficult for Rao to return to India.
Since the interim application filed by Rao had not yet reached the court, the judge decided to postpone the hearing. The next hearing is scheduled for April 25.
