The advocate of accused Thirupathanna, Siddhartha Dave said a charge-sheet had already been filed against him for his role in the case.

metro india news  I hyderabad

The Supreme Court heard the bail plea of Additional SP Thirupathanna in the sensational phone-tapping case in Telangana. A bench of Justices Nagarathna and Koteshwar Singh took up hearing of the matter. Advocate Siddharth Luthra argued on behalf of the Telangana government.

He said Thirupathanna was the main accused in the case and added that all the phones were tapped at the behest of political leaders while making it clear that the phones of the High Court judges were also included in the phone tapping list by the accused.

He also said accused Thirupathanna played a key role in the phone-tapping case and added that he played an important role in erasing the evidence in the case. When the election results came on December 3, 2023, the evidence was destroyed by the accused.

The advocate of accused Thirupathanna, Siddhartha Dave said a charge-sheet had already been filed against him for his role in the case. He argued that he had been in jail for nine months and added that the Supreme Court had earlier ruled that he should be kept in jail only if it was necessary while noting that it is a  right of the accused to get the bail.

The top court asked the government's counsel as to when the investigation into Thirupathanna's role in the case would be completed and made it clear that it was not right to continue it for a long time.

It said the freedom of the petitioner cannot be curtailed in the name of continuation of the investigation. The government's counsel said it would take another four months to complete the trial. 

The bench directed that it should be stated in writing as to how much time it would take. Luthra, appearing for the State government, sought time to file an affidavit in this regard. With this, bench posted the matter for further hearing on January 27.