Supreme Court Grants Bail To Telangana Police Officer Accused Of Phone-Tapping Bureaucrats & Judges

The Supreme Court today(January 27) granted bail to Mekala Thirupathanna, a suspended police officer accused of phone-tapping bureaucrats and High Court judges, after 10 months of incarceration. 

A bench of Justices B.V. Nagarathna and Satish Chandra Sharma granted bail while stating that the trial Court may set appropriate bail conditions. Any breach of the bail condition may lead to the bail's cancellation. The SLP was filed against the High Court of Telangana's order denying him bail last October. 

Last year, the Telangana High Court initiated suo moto proceedings into the illegal phone-tapping operation said to have been conducted during the reign of the BRS Government. It had taken up the matter stating that the issue involved "national security" and not just infringement of right to privacy.

At the outset, Senior Advocate Siddharth Luthra, for the State of Telangana, vehemently opposed the bail plea. He argued that releasing the suspended officer at this stage saying it would prejudice the trial as some crucial witnesses were yet to be examined. Whereas, Senior Advocate Siddharth Dave, for Mekala, stated that the chargesheet has also already been filed and the purpose of Section 167 will be defeated if the petitioner continues to be incarcerated.

Luthra contended that although a chargesheet has been filed, custody is needed for further investigation because the case involves data which was collected. He stated that data has been sought from Google because the petitioner and other officers involved have destroyed it. Luthra particularly prayed that 3 months may be given so that at least the further investigation in the context of the present petitioner is completed and that 4 crucial witnesses be examined in that time. 

However, a bench of Justices B.V. Nagarathna and Satish Chandra Sharma was not inclined to keep the petitioner in continued custody. Justice Sharma questioned what the State has been doing for one year. He said: "He has worked for you for 59 years. Not a single allegation against him and what is the purpose of keeping him in jail?"

Although Luthra pressed that this order should not be allowed to benefit other co-accused and requested the Court to add the same in the order, the Court did not do so. 

At the High Court, a special Bench comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Vinod Kumar took up the matter following a new article published in the Deccan Chronicle which claimed that apart from rival politicians,High Court judges had become the target of the phone tapping scam.

The issue came to light in December of 2023, after Congress won the elections and came to power within the State of Telangana. 

Case Details: MEKALA THIRUPATHANNA v. THE STATE OF TELANGANA., SLP(Crl) No. 14658/2024

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