Hyderabad: After months of dodging questions from home turf, retired IPS officer Prabhakar Rao is finally flying back to face the music in Telangana’s high-profile phone-tapping case. Investigators say Rao has told them he’ll show up for questioning on June 5, hoping to put his version of the story on record.
Rao’s return comes on the back of a 14-month stay in the United States, a period marked by a lookout notice, a non-bailable warrant, and a red-corner notice that left him with nowhere else to hide. His passport’s been cancelled, his visa’s expired — now it’s time to answer the tough questions.
Prabhakar Rao’s fall from grace has been swift and dramatic. Once the go-to man at the Special Intelligence Branch, he’s now the key name in a case that’s put the government on the back foot. The phone-tapping scandal has rattled officials across the board, raising uncomfortable questions about who was listening to whom, and why.
Sources say Rao has already given the Supreme Court an undertaking promising full cooperation, a move that might ease his landing but won’t spare him a grilling. Investigators believe Rao holds the key to untangling the messy threads of this case — and his statement could either blow the lid off or slam it shut.
With Rao’s homecoming just days away, the state’s law enforcement machinery is on alert. There’s a sense that this could be a turning point in a saga that’s refused to die down — and one that’s left many wondering whose phones were really being tapped.
