Anticipatory bail is an extraordinary remedy; courts must consider the seriousness of allegations, the accused's conduct, and risk of flight when deciding such applications.

ORDER:

This Criminal Petition is filed under Section 482 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (for short, ‘ BNSS ’) by the petitioner/accused No.1, seeking anticipatory bail in PRC No. 260 of 2024 on the file of the XIV Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Hyderabad (Crime No. 243 of 2024 of Panjagutta Police Station, registered for the offences punishable under Section s 166 , 409, 427, 201 , 120(B) read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (for short ‘ IPC ’), Section 3 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984 (for short ‘PDPP Act’) and Section s 65 , 66 , 66(F)(1)(B)(2) and 70 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (for short ‘I.T.Act’).

2. The case of prosecution in brief is that on 10.03.2024 at 13.45 hours Sri D.Ramesh, Additional Superintendent of Police, Special Investigation Branch (SIB), Telangana State, Hyderabad lodged English written complaint in which he reported that during his tenure, the accused person D.Praneeth Kumar @ Praneeth Rao joined SIB as an Inspector in 2018 and got accelerated promotion as Deputy Superintendent of Police in 2023. He came to know that Praneeth Kumar occupied three rooms, which were exclusively given to SOT along with 11 officers, 17 systems, 2 laptops, 3 hard disks, 8 pen drives and 2 phone numbers issued to Special Officers Team (SOT). They were also given a dedicated leased line with internet connection through which he developed profiles of unknown persons and monitored the same clandestinely. During 2024, complainant D.Ramesh noticed about the disappearance of records, both physical and electronic form from SIB. On their enquiry, they came to know that accused No.2 abused his official position and used to always copy intelligence information into his personal drives illegally most likely with the collusion of his unknown associates in order to shield his criminal acts and also resorted to erasing of the entire information by the way of removing hard disks and destroying them. Further, the complainant stated that on 4th December, 2023, accused No.2 turned off the Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras and destroyed old hard drives, containing data gathered over the decades which clandestinely obtained from him. He replaced the new hard drives in place of old drives. Hence, the complainant requested for necessary action against accused No.2 and others. Based on the said complaint, the present crime was registered for the aforesaid offences.

3. Heard Sri T.Niranjan Reddy, learned Senior Counsel, representing Sri V.Surender Rao, learned counsel for the petitioner and Sri Siddarth Luthra, learned Senior Counsel, representing Sri Palle Nageshwara Rao, learned Public Prosecutor appearing for the respondent-State.

4. Learned Senior Counsel for the petitioner submitted that the petitioner has not committed any offence, as alleged against him, and the petitioner is a senior citizen, aged about 65 years and retired as Inspector General of Police (IPS) in June, 2020 after completion of his unblemished service for a period of 30 years. After his superannuation, he discharged his duties as Chief of Operations in SIB. The petitioner is having vast experience of working in SIB even prior to 2014 and during his tenure, his significant contribution in curtailing the left-wing extremism and Islamic terroristic activities in the State and in the country. The State and Central Government recognized his services and he was awarded Indian Police Medal in 2012, Indian Police Medal for Gallantry in 2016, President’s Police Medal for distinguished service in 2019 and Union Home Minister’s Medal for collection of top-quality intelligence inputs in 2019 while he was working