Funds misuse allegations surface; SIT to question him on political phone interceptions
Hyderabad: Former SIB chief T Prabhakar Rao, who arrived in Hyderabad from the United States on Monday to appear before the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in connection with the phone tapping case, is likely to face fresh cases.
According to sources, government funds allocated to obtain leads of the activities of the banned Maoist leaders and cadre were reportedly misused when Prabhakar Rao was the chief of Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB). Prabhakar Rao had retired from the police service as the SIB chief on June 30, 2020, when the BRS was in power. Later, the BRS government extended his tenure till 2023.
When the Congress came to power in Telangana, Prabhakar Rao tendered his resignation and left for the United States under medical grounds.
The law enforcement agencies reportedly obtained inputs that the then government allocated funds in crores for expenditure at the Maoist-affected districts to eradicate the Maoists menace.
An audit of funds released for tracking Maoist activities in the state reportedly found that money was misused when SIB was under his helm.
As per the Supreme Court directions, he must appear before the SIT within three days of his arrival in Hyderabad.
A senior IPS officer asked the SIT officials to prepare to grill Prabhakar Rao in a phone tapping case. Based on the previous statements issued by the accused, the SIT would question him and focus on intercepting the phone calls of a person who instructed him to intercept the phone calls of the then TPCC chief and present Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and his family members.
