Process begins to declare former SIB chief Prabhakar proclaimed offender

Hyderabad: The Nampally court on Wednesday directed Panjagutta police to serve a proclamation order on fugitive Prabhakar Rao, former Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB) chief and an accused in the alleged phone tapping case. He will be declared a proclaimed offender if he does not appear before the court by June 20.The court gave the direction while dealing with a petition moved by the Hyderabad police to declare Prabhakar Rao a proclaimed offender. With the court order, the process of declaring him a proclaimed offender started. If Prabhakar Rao fails to return to India and appear before the court, it will decide after a month about declaring him a proclaimed offender.During the hearing, the court was informed by police that although the court earlier issued a Non Bailable Warrant (NBW) against him, he failed to appear before the court. Once a person is declared a proclaimed offender, he can be arrested by police from any state of India. Apart from that, his properties can be attached.Ever since the phone tapping case was registered, Prabhakar Rao is holed up in the USA and did not return to India. He was made the prime accused in the case. Recently, although he moved a petition in high court expressing his interest to return to India, provided he is granted protection from arrest, the court did not grant him relief.