Suspended DSP Praneeth taken into custody

Police have reportedly taken into custody suspended DSP Dugyala Praneeth Rao, accused of tapping the phones of Opposition leaders during the BRS government tenure and destroying the evidence. Praneeth Kumar, alias Praneeth Rao, who worked with the Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB) at that time, was reportedly not cooperating during questioning, sources said. Police have seized his mobile phone and sent it to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) to retrieve data. 

They also collected his previous SIM cards and have secured his call data records, sources said.

Police are said to have detected phone numbers and Whatsapp chats of senior police officers from his mobile. Police reportedly recovered disproportionate assets from Praneeth Rao's place. He was reportedly involved in transportation of money during the recent Assembly elections, police sources disclosed. City police along with FSL have formed special teams and are collecting information from the three war rooms, one each at Greenlands in the city, Rajanna Sircilla and Warangal districts that Praneeth Rao operated. 

These teams over two days have inspected the SIB offices and interacted with incumbent



officials.

Praneeth Rao, had reportedly stored over 10 lakh two-way conversions and had destroyed them on December 4 last year after the BRS government lost the Assembly elections. Director-General of Police Ravi Gupta had suspended Praneeth Rao recently. SIB additional SP P. Ramesh had lodged a complaint against Praneeth Rao last week, accusing him of destroying evidence. Sources claimed that in a six-year period, Praneeth Rao, a 2007 batch sub-inspector from Warangal district, along with 30 police officers belonging to a prominent caste, were selected to secretly tap the phones of prominent politicians and personalities.

Investigations into Praneeth Rao's case also revealed that he had allegedly tapped over 50 mobile phones of top realtors and minted crores by providing information to the real estate mafia, sources claimed. Reliable sources disclosed that Praneeth Rao dealt with the then top leaders individually, and did not share the information with other top leaders. Sources said Praneeth Rao and his team had even recorded the mobile phone of BRS MP Joginpally Santosh Kumar's wife Rohini, on the directions of the then top political leaders.