In the purported skill development issue, the Andhra Pradesh High Court has deferred its decision regarding former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu. Telugu Desam Party (TDP) head Naidu filed a petition with the high court asking it to overturn the FIR in the case that listed him as the primary culprit.
The court has now postponed rendering its decision until September 25.
Naidu filed a petition last week asking for the FIR to be quashed in order to contest the arrest that CID agents from Andhra Pradesh made. The Anti-Corruption Board Court ruling remanding him to 14 days of judicial prison in connection with the skill development programme scam case was challenged in the petition.
The Andhra Pradesh CID claims that questioning Naidu for the next four to five days will clear up the situation and shed light on the purported scam. The former Andhra CM was not listed in the chargesheet that was submitted in 2021, according to Naidu’s side of the argument.
“Let alone that he (Naidu) was named as the primary accused in the case,” his legal representatives claimed. When the case was heard by Justice Sreenivas Reddy’s single bench, Harish Salve and Siddharth Luthra represented Naidu. Naidu’s attorneys claimed that the FIR was invalid and that no person had been authorised to arrest him in accordance with the pertinent provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
In reality, Naidu’s attorneys claimed throughout the hearing that the accusations were politically motivated in advance of the 2024 General Elections.
However, officials from the Andhra Pradesh CID have maintained that interviewing him was essential not to recover the money involved in the scam but rather to identify the participants in the purported skill development scam.
Chandrababu Naidu, the leader of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), was detained on September 9 and is now being held in Rajahmundry Central Jail.
