Hyderabad, April 16 -- The Telangana High Court on Tuesday declined to grant interim protection from arrest to former state intelligence chief T Prabhakar Rao, who is facing allegations of phone tapping during the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government.

Justice J Sreenivas Rao heard arguments from both sides after Prabhakar Rao's counsel, T Niranjan Reddy, sought a week's time for his client to appear before the police.

Reddy argued that the police had declared Rao an absconder, cancelled his passport, and secured a red corner notice against him, despite Rao's willingness to return from the United States and cooperate with the investigation.

He cited a Supreme Court order in a similar case involving another accused, Sravan Ku...