Breaking: Chandrababu Naidu gets 14 days judicial remand

Vijayawada: The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) court in Vijayawada gets 14 days judicial remand to former chief minister and TDP supremo Nara Chandrababu Naidu. He is said to be the principal decision-maker in releasing funds in the Rs 371 crore Andhra Pradesh Skill Development Scam, and was arrested in Nandyal on September 9 by the Andhra Pradesh Crime Investigation Department (APCID).

He will be kept in SIT office for today and will be sent to Rajamahendravaram Centra jail tommorrow. His legal team to file lunch motion petition in the High Court. He will be in remand for September 22. Officials of Rajamahendravaram Centra jail alerted on Naidu's arrest. Heavy police security deployed in the jail premesis.

Andhra Pradesh police have imposed section 144 across the state.

On Saturday, he was taken by road from Nandyal to Vijayawada. Naidu was produced in an ACB court in Vijayawada on Sunday morning amid tight security, a day after being arrested in a case of alleged corruption.

In a way to avoid any untoward incidents, the police are taking into custody TDP cadres who have surrounded the ACB court in Vijayawada. The cadres are being shifted to the police station in vehicles. Vijayawada City Commissioner Kanthi Rana Tata is at the ACB court checking the security measures.

Designated as A37 in the ongoing inquiry, Naidu’s role as the alleged chief architect and conspirator of a complex web of offences is under intense scrutiny. The case at hand involves a web of complex offences, including Criminal Conspiracy, Criminal Breach of Trust, Fraudulent Misappropriation, Framing Incorrect Documents, Cheating, Forgery, Using Forged Documents, Abetment, and the Abuse of Position as a Public Servant. These allegations stem from activities that transpired at the office of the Andhra Pradesh State Skill Development Corporation (APSSDC), Tadepalli, Guntur District, during Naidu’s tenure as the chief minister.

At its core, this investigation revolves around a scheme that diverted government funds intended for a skill development project into avenues of personal pecuniary gain. An estimated sum of Rs 279 crores found its way into various shell companies through fraudulent invoices, with no corresponding delivery of services, resulting in substantial wrongful pecuniary losses to the government.

Naidu was questioned about his role in the offences in the presence of mediators. The CID alleged that Chandrababu Naidu and the Telugu Desam Party were the ‘end beneficiaries’ of the misappropriated funds.

The CID named G Subba Rao and K Lakshminarayana, former government employees, as A1 and A2 respectively in the case.