After CID’s grilling, Nara Lokesh meets Amit Shah; complaints about Jagan’s witchhunt

New Delhi: Days after grilling by CID in Amaravati Outer Ring Road scam, TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi.

He along with his aunt and BJP Andhra president Daggubati Puranseswari met the Home Minister.

"Met Amit Shah ji, apprised him of the blatant misuse of state machinery by YSRCP Govt in Andhra Pradesh, the regime revenge against NCB and the appalling condition in which he has been lodged in prison where his life is under threat,” Lokesh posted on X.

Purandeswari wrote on X: "Now those who blame the Centre need to reply as to why Amit Shah ji would give an appointment to Lokesh if the BJP was behind the arrest."

Sources from the TDP said Lokesh spoke in detail about the alleged harassment by Jagan Mohan Reddy against his family members.

Amit Shah is said to have enquired about the health of Chandrababu Naidu.

Naidu was arrested on September 9, for allegedly misappropriating funds from the Skill Development Corporation, which resulted in a purported loss of over Rs 300 crore to the state exchequer.

It may be noted that Lokesh was questioned by the CID in the Inner Ring Road scam. The case pertains to "manipulating" the master plan of Amaravati capital city, alignment of the inner ring road, and the seed capital to allegedly offer undue enrichment to several companies during Naidu's tenure as chief minister.

In another case related to Lokesh’s petition seeking anticipatory bail in the AP Fibernet case, the high reserved its judgment. The CID counsel said it would follow a due procedure of issuing him notice under Section 41-A of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) for questioning and would not arrest him immediately.

After appearing before the CID for the second consecutive day on Wednesday in the Inner Ring Road alignment case, Lokesh revealed that if the Inner Ring Road really teaks shape, some of the lands of Heritage have to be sacrificed.

Talking to media persons after attending the inquiry by the CID officials, Lokesh said that he has come to know during the inquiry fact that the Inner Road is planned through the Heritage lands. Stating that the CID questioned him for almost six hours, he said except for three questions they repeated the same queries that were posed on Tuesday.

"The papers about the Income Tax returns of my mother Bhuvaneswari, were presented before me. She is connected with this case and why the IT returns of my mother were produced before me. The investigative officers should explain as to how they got these documents," Lokesh asked.

Fibernet update:

Meanwhile, a local court on Wednesday posted Andhra Pradesh Police CID's prisoner on transit (PT) warrant petition of TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu in the FiberNet case to October 12. Vijayawada ACB Court may pronounce its orders in the FiberNet case on Thursday.

The FiberNet case relates to the alleged tender manipulation in allotting a work order under Phase-1 of the AP FiberNet Project of Rs 330 crore to a favored company. The AP FiberNet scam took place during the TDP regime between 2014-19.

The Crime Investigation Department alleged that irregularities took place from the allotting of the tender to the completion of the total project, causing a huge loss to the state exchequer. The court dismissed Naidu's lawyer's right of audience petition in the FiberNet PT warrant petition and proceeded to hear the probe agency's arguments.

The ACB Court heard only the FiberNet PT warrant petition as the Andhra Pradesh High Court on Wednesday stayed the Amravati Inner Ring Road scam case and directed the CID not to proceed with the PT Warrant petition in this case.

Further, the High Court is likely to hear an anticipatory bail petition filed by Naidu in the Inner Ring Road case on October 16.