New Delhi: Ex-Andhra Pradesh CM and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) Chief N Chandrababu Naidu has moved the Supreme Court challenging his arrest and the FIR in the alleged Rs 371 crore skill development scam, sources said on Saturday. It is learnt that Naidu moved the apex court after the Andhra Pradesh High Court dismissed his petition, seeking to quash the FIR lodged against him in the alleged skill development scam.
The high court had said that the investigating agency, pursuant to the registration of the crime in the year 2021, examined as many as more than 140 witnesses and collected documents to the tune of more than 4,000. “Profligacy is such an esoteric subject, where investigation has to be carried with utmost proficiency by the professionals,” the high court said while dismissing Naidu's petition.
Naidu had filed a petition in the high court challenging his arrest and FIR filed by the Crime Investigation Department (CID). Naidu had also challenged the order issued by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) court to remand him to 14-day judicial custody in connection with the same case. Earlier, the ACB court extended Naidu's judicial remand for two more days.
It has ordered the CID to produce him through video conference on Sunday. The Andhra Pradehs High Court ordered the CID to conduct investigations in the Rajahmundry Central Jail, where Naidu is currently lodged. It also sought the names of the officials conducting the investigation. The HC ordered that the CID investigation be conducted from 9.30 am to 5 pm.
In his petition to the High Court, Naidu said that during his 45-year-long political career in Andhra Pradesh, he has brought “significant development in the state and said that he was being given a much bigger punishment at his age”.
