Andhra Pradesh high court dismisses Chandrababu Naidu’s plea to quash arrest

The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Friday dismissed TDP supremo and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s petition to quash his arrest and remand in connection with an alleged Rs 371 crore scam. The court also sent the TDP chief to the custody of the state police’s Criminal Investigation Department for two days.

The Telugu Desam Party chief was arrested earlier this month and sent to judicial custody for a 14-day period.

The CID has named him as the “principal conspirator” and “accused number 1” in a multi-crore scam involving the state’s skill development corporation. He was earlier listed as “accused number 37”.

The police case against the TDP chief has created turmoil in Andhra politics – there have been violent clashes as party workers protested his arrest — with just months to go for national and Assembly elections.

There have also been protests within the Andhra Pradesh Assembly.

On Thursday, several lawmakers from Naidu’s party were suspended for 24 hours for disrupting proceedings by sloganeering to demand their leader’s release.

In addition, three others — two from the TDP and one from the ruling YSR Congress Party — were barred for the session. Hindpur MLA Nandamuri Balakrishna was warned for unparliamentary behavior within the assembly. Balakrishna is an actor and Naidu’s brother-in-law.

Last week Naidu’s son, Nara Lokesh, spoke to NDTV and hit out at charges against his father. “I should call for a civil war against the corrupt regime (of the ruling YSCP),” he said.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Saturday emphasised his government’s belief that Naidu is guilty of “orchestrating and promoting” the alleged Rs 371 crore scam.

What is Andhra Pradesh Skill Development Scam?

The case pertains to setting up of clusters of centres of excellence (CoE) in the state with the total estimate of the project valued at Rs 3,300 crore, but this allegedly ended up causing a loss of over Rs 300 crore to the state. The CID believes that before expenditure by private entities, the then government provided an advance of Rs 371 crores – its full 10 per cent commitment.

Investigations have led to the conclusion, prime facie, that Naidu, then the head of the government and its highest executive, orchestrated the entire scheme, the CID said.