New Delhi:

The Supreme Court on Tuesday denied interim bail to former Andhra Pradesh chief minister and TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu and said it will pronounce its verdict on his plea challenging the high court order refusing to quash the FIR against him in the Skill Development Corporation scam case.

A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi, which reserved its verdict on the TDP leader’s petition, did not accept the prayer of senior advocate Harish Salve, who sought interim bail for Mr Naidu, 73, citing his age and the period of 40 days that he has spent in custody.

“I have a request for interim bail. Your Lordships may consider releasing him. If you eventually rule against him, he can go back. In the 2015-16 inquiry, the government’s lament was that nothing came of it. Now, in 2021, they are desperately grasping at straws,” Mr Salve said, reaffirming that Mr Naidu was falsely implicated in the case.

Senior Advocate Sidharth Luthra, also representing Mr Naidu, too sought interim bail for the former chief minister.

Senior advocate Ranjit Kumar, appearing for the Andhra Pradesh government, opposed Salve and Luthra’s request for relief to Mr Naidu, saying his bail application was pending before the trial court which will consider it.

The bench told Mr Luthra it has heard the main matter related to a challenge to the high court order and applicability of section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act in the case against Mr Naidu, and was reserving the judgment.

Section 17A was introduced by an amendment to the PC Act with effect from July 26, 2018. The provision stipulates a mandatory requirement for a police officer to seek prior approval from the competent authority for conducting any enquiry or inquiry or investigation into any offence alleged to have been committed by a public servant under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Mr Naidu has contended the FIR against him was registered without obtaining the prior approval of the competent authority in the Skill Development Corporation scam case, and therefore his arrest was illegal.

The top court also listed for Friday Mr Naidu’s separate plea for anticipatory bail in the FiberNet case.

The FiberNet case relates to alleged tender manipulation in allotting a work order under Phase-1 of the AP FiberNet Project involving Rs 330 crore to a favoured company.

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Andhra Pradesh police has alleged irregularities in the project right from awarding the tender to completion of the work, causing a huge loss to the state exchequer.

Mr Naidu was arrested on September 9 for allegedly misappropriating funds from the Skill Development Corporation when he was the chief minister in 2015, causing a purported loss of Rs 371 crore to the state exchequer. He is under judicial remand in the Rajamahendravaram central prison. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Hyderabad:

An anti-corruption court cited “security” as it rejected a house custody plea for jailed ex-Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, who will now spend the rest of his two-week remand period in jail, unless he gets relief in the form of bail. On Tuesday Mr Naidu had been sent to judicial custody after he was arrested in connection with an alleged multi-crore scam.

The court in Andhra Pradesh’s Vijayawada rejected arguments from Mr Naidu’s legal team and his wife, who spoke of her “worry for his safety inside jail”. “I did not see any special arrangements made for him,” she told reporters after the court refused to quash Mr Naidu’s remand order.

“I felt I left a part of me inside. They have tied him up in the building he helped construct,” she said.

Mr Naidu’s wife, Bhuvaneswari; his son, Lokesh; and his daughter-in-law, Brahmani; met the former Chief Minister at the jail in Rajahmundry, to which he was taken on Sunday. Bhuvaneswari called on workers from her husband’s Telugu Desam Party to speak out and support him.

READ | Home-Cooked Meals, Special Room For Chandrababu Naidu In Andhra Jail

“Not just TDP cadre… but the people need to stand up for Mr Naidu, who always put the welfare of the people before that of his family. I give you my word that the TDP, established by Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao (who is her father), is here to stay,” she declared.

READ | Chandrababu Naidu “Non-Cooperative, Gave Vague Replies”: Andhra Cops To Court

The TDP founder, referred to by his initials – NTR – invoked Telugu pride to establish his party as a force to be reckoned with in a short period of time.

Earlier today, actor-politician Balakrishna – a party lawmaker from Hindupur and NTR’s son, said it was time for the people to “throw out” Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy. “No need to be afraid of anyone. I am coming… will show them valour and strength of Telugu people.”

Meanwhile, the Andhra Pradesh Police’s Crime Investigation Department has sought five-day custody of Mr Naidu, arguing they need to interrogate him as the alleged is a serious economic offence and as the “prime conspirator”, Chandrababu Naidu, had “full knowledge” of events.

What Is The Skill Development Corporation Scam?

The multi-crore scam deals with money allocated to the Department of Skill Entrepreneurship and Innovation by the state, and incorporated into the 2015-16 budget.

According to the CID, inquiries revealed serious irregularities, specifically, before any expenditure by private entities, the then government provided an advance of Rs 371 crores, representing the entire 10 per cent commitment by the government.

READ | The Rs 371-Crore Scam That Led To Chandrababu Naidu’s Arrest: Explained

Most of the money advanced was diverted to shell companies through fake invoices, with no actual delivery or sale of items mentioned in invoices, officials said.

CID officials have also said senior government officials, including then chief secretary IYR Krishna Rao, made notings in related files. They had objected to the advance release of funds to Design Tech and noted that this was being done on the instructions of N Chandrababu Naidu.