The Panjagutta police of Hyderabad booked cases against the now suspended Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) with the District Crime Records Bureau (DCRB) of the Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB) for allegedly tampering with evidence, breach of trust, and other criminal offences.
The cases were booked following a complaint from D. Ramesh, the Additional Superintendent of Police (SP) with the SIB. The FIR of the case, a copy of which is in the possession of The Hindu, reads that there has been a concerning pattern of behaviour by D. Praneeth Kumar alias Praneeth Rao during his time as an Inspector and later as DSP with the SIB from 2018 to 2023. “Kumar operated with exclusive access to two rooms and 17 computer systems with a dedicated leased line with Internet connection, through which he developed profiles of unknown persons and monitored the same clandestinely, done both unauthorisedly and illegally. Around December 2024, the records, both physical and electronic from the SIB office, disappeared,” he said in the FIR.
He added that on enquiry, it came to light that, Praneeth Kumar, by misusing and abusing his official position, used to always illegally copy intelligence information into his personal drives such as pen drive, external disks etc. which were in his custody most likely with the collusion of unknown persons and in order to shield his criminal acts, he resorted to erasing of entire information by way of dismantling the systems including external hard discs, by personally supervising the process of destruction unauthorisedly and illegally.
On the night of December 4, 2023, the day BRS lost the Assembly Elections, Praneeth had dismantled and destroyed equipment containing data/information by turning off the cameras. “He also destroyed old hard drives which contained data gathered over decades along with the data clandestinely obtained by him and to avoid any suspicion against him. He then replaced the old hard drives with new ones illegally,” added the official in his complaint. The FIR cites various sections of the IPC relevant to the alleged offences, including breach of trust, criminal trespass, tampering with evidence, and criminal conspiracy under sections 409, 427, 201 and 120 (B). Additionally, it references the Prevention of Destruction of Public Records Act (PDPP Act) 1984 and the Information Technology Act (ITA) sections concerning data tampering and illegal access.
