Hyderabad: In the phone-tapping case, the Supreme Court on Thursday granted interim protection from coercive action to the former SIB chief T Prabhakar Rao, who is a key accused in the case. The court also granted him a passport to return to India and issued orders to come within three days. Rao had filed a petition in the court for anticipatory bail. The bench of Justices B V Nagaratna and Satish Chandra Sharma directed Rao to appear before the investigation officer and said his passport be made available to him. It directed the State government not to take any strict action, for now.

The court also directed Rao to give an undertaking that he would return to India within three days after receiving his passport.

During the hearing, Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta and senior advocate Sidharth Luthra vehemently opposed Rao’s plea seeking bail. Rao is suspected to be in the US. A Red-Corner Notice was issued against him and his passport was revoked.