Hyderabad: On Monday, P. Venkatagiri, the Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) of Jubilee Hills, filed a counter-affidavit in response to a bail request from retired IPS officer T. Prabhakar Rao. Rao is the main accused (A-1) in the first phone-tapping case (Crime No. 243/2024) registered at Panjagutta Police Station and is seeking anticipatory bail to avoid arrest.
The investigating officer (IO) strongly opposed granting bail, stating that Prabhakar Rao’s actions amount to a serious breach of trust and cannot be forgiven. Out of six accused in the case, four – A-2 to A-5 – have already spent over 11 months in jail before being granted bail by different courts. Prabhakar Rao (A-1) and Sravan Kumar Rao (A-6), the Managing Director of I News, have fled the country and are yet to be arrested.
The IO emphasized that questioning Prabhakar Rao in custody is crucial to uncover the full truth. He mentioned that important evidence has been collected and needs to be presented to Rao during the interrogation. Granting bail now could disrupt the investigation and prevent the discovery of key facts. Since Rao is absconding, effective questioning has not been possible.
The petition for anticipatory bail will be heard again by Justice J. Sreenivas Rao on April 15. Among the accused, only Prabhakar Rao and Sravan Kumar are still avoiding arrest. The other four – Bhujanga Rao (A-3), Radha Kishan Rao (A-5), Tirupathanna (A-4), and D. Praneet Rao (A-2) – have been granted bail by various courts.
Prabhakar Rao’s legal petition requests that he be granted bail if he is arrested or detained in connection with PRC No. 260/2024 (Crime No. 243/2024). The court has postponed the hearing to April 15.
Petitions Filed to Quash Two FIRs
Also on Monday, a man named Nalla Balu, also known as Durgam Shashidar Goud from Patancheru, filed two petitions asking the court to cancel two FIRs (First Information Reports) registered against him. One case is in Karimnagar and the other in Ramagundam. Both cases are related to alleged defamatory posts he made on X (formerly Twitter) targeting the Telangana Chief Minister.
The first FIR (No. 13/2025) was filed at the Karimnagar Cyber Crime Police Station. It accuses Balu of posting an image with the caption: “No Vision, No Mission… only 20% Commission!” criticizing the Congress government led by CM Revanth Reddy. The complaint was filed by Constable M.A. Wasim Akram, who said Balu copied a post from the BRS Party’s Twitter account and changed the image to include the Chief Minister’s photo.
The second FIR (No. 8/2025) was registered in Ramagundam. In this case, Constable Satish filed the complaint after seeing another post by Balu that said, “Congress is the scourge of the State!… if the field is affected by the pest, the people will be disturbed.” The constable argued that this post harms the reputation of the Chief Minister.
In both cases, Balu claims he is being falsely accused and that the FIRs do not show any real offense. He referenced a Supreme Court ruling that says such complaints should only be filed by a police officer in charge and with approval from a superior officer. He also pointed out that the complaints were filed by constables, which does not meet the legal requirements.
Balu has asked the court to cancel both FIRs and stop any further legal action, including his possible arrest. His petitions will be heard by a single judge on April 8.
