In a latest development, the West Zone Police of Hyderabad has filed a petition seeking 10 days custody of the now suspended Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) of the Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB) Praneeth Rao.
“He is likely to be questioned at the Jubilee Hill’s ACP office,” a senior official informed.
Questioning will include the involvement of other officials in the case and the contents of the hard disks he destroyed.
Rao was arrested from his residence in Srinagar Colony of Rajanna Sircilla in the early hours on Wednesday on charges of tampering with evidence, breach of trust and other criminal offences during his stint in the Crime Records Bureau of SIB.
Police booked a case against him following a complaint from D Ramesh, the Additional Superintendent of Police (SP) with the SIB, where he stated that there has been a concerning pattern of his behaviour during his time as an Inspector and later as DSP with the SIB from 2018 to 2023.
Praneeth was involved in dismantling and destroying data in as many as 42 hard drives and replacing them with new ones. Moreover, he also dismantled and destroyed equipment containing data by turning off the cameras on the night of December 4, 2023, the day Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) lost the Assembly elections.
Police have filed the case under various sections of the IPC relevant to the alleged offences, including breach of trust, criminal trespass, tampering with evidence, and criminal conspiracy under the sections 409, 427, 201 and 120 (B) of the Indian Penal Code. Cases were also booked under the Prevention of Destruction of Public Records Act (PDPP Act) 1984 and the Information Technology Act (ITA) sections concerning data tampering and illegal access.
