In a major setback to former Telangana Intelligence chief T Prabhakar Rao, the Supreme Court today dismissed his anticipatory bail plea in the alleged illegal phone-tapping case and ordered him to surrender before the Special Investigation Team (SIT) at the Jubilee Hills police station at 11 am tomorrow.
During the hearing before the apex court bench comprising Justices B V Nagarathna and R Mahadevan, the Telangana government's counsel argued that Rao had not been cooperating with the ongoing investigation and requested permission for custodial interrogation.
After hearing the submissions, the court observed that Rao had indeed "not fully cooperated", including by failing to restore his iCloud credentials as previously directed.
The bench therefore allowed custodial interrogation, while cautioning that Rao must not be subjected to any physical harm.
Meanwhile, former police officers Radhakishan and Tirupati Rao have been arrested in the case, with Radhakishan reportedly naming former Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao during questioning.
The SIT has also questioned P Rajasekhar Reddy, former OSD to KCR.