Over 1,200 phones were tapped, confesses fmr DSP Praneeth Rao

Hyderabad: As many as 1,200 phones were tapped, stated former SIB DSP Praneeth Rao in his confession. Praneeth Rao confessed to the Hyderabad police about his involvement in the phone-tapping operation.

According to Praneeth Rao’s confession, over 1,200 phones were tapped, including those of judges, political leaders, opposition leaders, their family members, media personalities, journalists, real estate traders, businessmen and those who were providing financial assistance to the opposition.

Praneeth Rao said that he was in touch with the staff from time to time through eight phones. Officially, three phones had been assigned, however, other five phones have been used regularly for monitoring the phone tapping operation.

The former SIB DSP said that the money from those who were providing financial support to the opposition was seized. Praneeth Rao said that the amount of seized money has also been shown in the records as Hawala cash.

He said that the tapping was done with the help of Convergence Innovation Lab software. It was confessed that with the help of Special Intelligence Branch (SIB) chief Prabhakar Rao, and that the tapping was done through 17 systems. It is said that 56 staff members were assigned. Praneeth Rao said that the phone tapping was stopped after the elections.

The former officer revealed that Prabhakar Rao ordered and stopped the tapping after the Congress government came to power and ordered to destroy information related to phone tapping.

Over 50 new hard disks have been brought on the orders of Prabhakar Rao and were replaced. He said that 17 hard disks containing the most important information were destroyed. All the data in pen drives, hard disks, laptops and other electronic items have been formatted. All the destroyed hard disks and other components were thrown away, he added.