Telangana Phone Tapping Case: SC Grants Anticipatory Bail To T Prabhakar Rao
The apex court had earlier granted Rao interim anticipatory bail, which it made absolute on Tuesday.
By Sumit Saxena
Published : March 10, 2026 at 7:51 PM IST
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted anticipatory bail to former Telangana Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB) chief T Prabhakar Rao, an accused in a phone tapping case.
A bench led by Justice B V Nagarathna heard the matter. The apex court had earlier granted Rao interim anticipatory bail, which it made absolute today.
"...We dispose of the appeal by making absolute the interim protection which was granted to the accused,” the bench said. The bench noted that he had been cooperating with the investigation and that the probe was almost complete with a chargesheet likely to be filed in the next few weeks.
The bench made it clear that Rao should not tamper with the evidence or the material on record, nor attempt to influence any of the witnesses. The bench said any breach of the aforesaid conditions may entail cancellation of the anticipatory bail granted to the appellant.
On January 16, the top court had orally observed that it felt the Telangana government wanted to keep former state Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB) chief T Prabhakar Rao in jail until he broke down while hearing an anticipatory bail application filed by Rao.
On December 19, 2025, the apex court had extended Rao's police custody until December 25. The court had said Rao would be released after interrogation on December 26, and no coercive action should be taken against him until the next hearing.
On December 12, Rao surrendered before the investigating officer at the Jubilee Hills police station in Hyderabad at 11 AM, as directed by the apex court. The Telangana government earlier alleged that Rao was still withholding his iCloud accounts despite the court order. Rao moved the top court challenging an order of the Telangana High Court, which dismissed his plea seeking anticipatory bail.
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