Phone tapping: Telangana HC extends protection from arrest to ex-minister Harish Rao till Jan 9

Hyderabad: Telangana High Court has extended protection from arrest to former Minister T. Harish Rao till January 9 in a phone tapping case.

On Monday, Justice Kunuru Lakshman extended the December 5 Interim order till January 9.

Earlier on December 5, the court had passed the interim order after hearing the Criminal Petition filed by T. Harish Rao, seeking a direction to quash FIR.No. 1205/2024 registered against him on December 3 under section 120b, 386, 409, 506 R/w. 34 IPC & 66 IT Act, 2008.

The case was registered against Harish Rao on a complaint by Gadhagoni Chakradhar Goud. He contended that he had submitted a complaint to the Commissioner of Police, Hyderabad on November 23 and December 1 about the illegal tapping of his and his family’s phones by the SIB Police at the insistence of T. Harish Rao, MLA Siddipet.

The de facto complainant had contested against him from the Siddipet Assembly constituency in the 2023 Assembly polls.

Earlier, he had garnered good support from the public in Siddipet. Based on the complaint, Panjagutta Police registered the case.

Senior Counsel J. Ramchander Rao, appearing for Harish Rao, argued that the de facto complainant is habitual and has made many false complaints against the petitioner because he lost the 2023 polls against his client.

Siddharth Luthra, senior counsel appearing for the state government, argued that the FIR should not be quashed as the offences registered against the petitioner are serious as the illegal phone tapping of the de facto complainant and his family members is nothing but invading into the private life of a person and also violates the Telegraph Act.

The case was later adjourned to January 9, 2025. Until then, T. Harish Rao was granted interim protection from arrest.