13 Sep 2023 6:08 AM GMT
The Andhra Pradesh High Court today stayed till next Monday the Court proceedings (in the State CID's custody petition) against former state Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party leader N Chandrababu Naidu in connection with the multi-crore corruption Andhra Pradesh skill development program scam case.
Essentially, the Court has directed the Court in Vijayawada to not take up the Custody petition of Chandrababu Naidu filed by the CID until Monday, Sep 18. The CID has further been directed to not take him in its custody till next Monday.
It may be noted that Naidu moved to the High Court on Tuesday seeking the cancellation of his judicial remand in the case as well as quashing of the case. A single bench of Justice K Suresh Reddy passed the order.
Earlier, a special court at Vijayawada found a prime facie case against the former CM under the charges of cheating, criminal breach of trust, forgery and corruption and sent him to 14 days of judicial custody. His application for house remand was also rejected yesterday.
In his plea, the former CM has claimed that a false case was foisted against him for political vendetta he was arrested 22 months after the registration of the case in December 2021. It has also been contended that while registering a case against him, the APCID did not follow due procedure in registering the case against him.
It is also his case that no specific allegations have been made against him and the CID has failed to collect preliminary evidence to prove any of the allegations against him.
Significantly, his further plea is that the trial court’s order sending him to remand was passed without taking into account the fact that the CID had failed to obtain prior approval from the governor in accordance with section 17A of the PC Act.
Further, he has also urged the High Court to cancel his remand and stay the proceedings pending before the ACB court in Vijayawada till the hearing on his petition in the High Court is concluded.
The case against Naidu alleges that he had a crucial role to play in the scam when he was the Chief Minister of the state. He has been accused of diverting government funds intended for a skill development project into various shell companies through fraudulent invoices.