Telangana HC dismisses bail plea of former Addl DCP Mekala Tirupathanna in phone tapping case
Justice Juvvadi Sridevi said that it was not a fit case to grant bail as the accused was a responsible police officer and held a responsible post
By Newsmeter Network Published on 2 Oct 2024 3:57 AM GMT
Telangana phone tapping case in High Court
Hyderabad: Telangana High Court on Tuesday dismissed the bail plea of former additional DCP Mekala Tirupathanna in the phone-tapping case.
Justice Juvvadi Sridevi said that it was not a fit case to grant bail because the accused was a responsible police officer and held a responsible post.
Moreover, Mekala Tirupatanna must have been aware of the consequences, that would follow for his illegal acts, and ought to have distinguished his work, rather than blindly following the orders of Praneet Rao, his immediate superior officer, the court said.
Justice Sridevi refused bail to the petitioner on the ground that voluminous data is to be analyzed and the prosecution intends to file the supplementary charge sheet.
Besides, T. Prabhakar Rao, the then SIB Chief under whose supervision the team of police officers resorted to the phone tapping, and Aruvela Shravan Kumar Rao, a TV reporter, are in the USA and yet to be apprehended.
In addition, the court said that the FSL report contains information relating to the mobile phones/laptops used by the accused. It also includes the mobile phone Mekala Thirupathanna. The court said the data retrieved from the phone of petitioner still needs to be analyzed for further investigation. Therefore, at this stage, the bail cannot be granted.
The court agreed with the contention of the prosecution that the prime duty of the police officials in the SIB under the supervision of the then Chief of SIB T. Prabhakar Rao was meant to collect intelligence inputs about the banned extremist organization. However, they conspired to elicit information from the opposition party leaders, common people, High Court Judges, and their family members. They used this information to ensure the victory of BRS in the 2023 assembly elections. When their endeavor didnāt result in the victory of the BRS, they destroyed entire hard disks, cell phones, etc., which had crucial confidential information relating to the safety and security of the state, which is illegal.
Apart from Mekala Tirupathanna, the other accused are retired IPS officer D. Prabhakar Rao; DSP Dugyala Praneeth Rao; Additional SP Nayini Bhujanga Rao; retired DCP P.Radha Krishan Rao; TV reporter Aruvela Shravan Kumar Rao.
