Telangana Phone-Tapping Case | Ex-Intelligence Chief Withholding iCloud Accounts Despite Order: State Tells Supreme Court
The State of Telangana today told the Supreme Court that former intelligence chief T Prabhakar Rao, accused of phone tapping of politicians and high court judges during the term of the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi-led Government in Telangana, was still not cooperating with the investigation.
“He has done paper cooperation. Either the devices are not opening or they have been wiped out. So it is an exercise in futility”, Senior Advocate Sidharth Luthra, for the State, said.
A bench of Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice R Mahadevan listed his anticipatory bail plea for tomorrow and extended his interim protection from arrest until then.
The case against Rao is that he illegally intercepted phones of several important persons and later formatted electronic devices and destroyed data while under interim protection granted by the Court.
On October 13, the Court had directed him to reset and furnish the password to his iCloud account before forensic experts from the State Police.
The Court was hearing his anticipatory bail plea, in which the State has sought to vacate the protection earlier granted to him.
Today, the State alleged that Rao did not reset passwords to all of his iCloud accounts despite earlier directions of the Court. It was alleged that out of five accounts, Rao had reset only two, and that there was no data in those accounts because Rao had deleted it.
The bench indicated that it would hear the case in January. However, Luthra asked the bench to list the case tomorrow, as Rao was not cooperating with the investigation. At his request, the Court listed the case tomorrow and extended the interim order until then.
On October 13, the Court had ordered Rao to reset and furnish the password to his iCloud account in the presence of forensic experts from the State Police.
Case no. – SLP(Crl) No. 7354/2025
Case Title – T. Prabhakar Rao v. State of Telangana