By: Express News ServiceNew Delhi | December 20, 2025 05:51 AM IST 2 min readThe case pertains to the period right before the 2023 Telangana Assembly elections when phones of at least 600 individuals were allegedly tapped.The Supreme Court on Friday extended the police custody of former Telangana police intelligence bureau head T Prabhakar Rao in the illegal phone-tapping case till December 25.A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and R Mahadevan allowed the state’s request to extend his custody so that the interrogation could be completed. The bench added that “on 26.12.2025 the petitioner shall be released from custody”.It further said, “Since the matter is pending before this court, no coercive steps shall be taken as against the petitioner… from 26.12.2025 onwards till the next date of hearing.” The court also asked Rao to “cooperate with further investigation, if summoned”.Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the state said: “Somehow… they have been able to create an impression that this matter is political… Suppose a political executive tells me to shoot someone… Can I say, I did it only because I was instructed to?” Mehta also submitted a status report detailing the steps taken in Rao’s interrogation.The SG said Rao’s argument is that since he was dealing with left wing extremism, he was tracking everyone who was a Leftist.The case pertains to the period right before the 2023 Telangana Assembly elections when phones of at least 600 individuals were allegedly tapped. © The Indian Express Pvt LtdTags:supreme court