Set-back to Naidu: HC dismisses FIR quash petition in AP skill scam

VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh High Court has dismissed the petition filed by Telugu Desam president Nara Chandrababu Naidu seeking to quash the first information report (FIR) filed against him by the AP-CID in the Rs 371 crores Skill Development scam.

A single-judge bench of Justice Sreenivasa Reddy delivered the verdict here on Friday. TD leaders along with the senior advocates are planning to move either a High Court Division Bench or the Supreme Court to challenge the single-judge bench’s order.

The bench said, “The court is of the opinion that in respect of the disputed questions of fact, a mini-trial cannot be conducted in a petition filed under Section 482 of CrPC. The investigation agency, pursuant to the registration of the crime in 2021, examined more than 140 witnesses and collected over 4,000 documents. There is a need for investigation, which must be carried out with utmost proficiency. At this stage, where the investigation is on the fulcrum of attaining its finality, the court is not inclined to interfere with the impugned proceedings. As the criminal petition is devoid of merit, it is dismissed and consequential reliefs sought are also not allowed.”

The criminal petition under Section 482 of CrPC 1973 also sought quashing of the order of remand dated September 10, issued by the special judge for SPE and ACB cases.

In the course of the earlier hearings, both the parties argued vehemently. The CID’s counsels stressed that the arrest of Naidu was made after collecting all evidence. Naidu’s counsel argued that the CID failed to follow proper procedure.

Naidu’s counsel and Supreme Court senior advocate Harish Salve pointed out that the FIR was registered on December 9, 2021, whereas the petitioner (Naidu) was added as Accused No. 37 in the case much later, on September 7, 2023. He contended that Section 17 A of the Prevention of Corruption Act was not complied with as “no permission was obtained from the competent authority.”

He quoted verdicts in previous cases like Yashwant Sinha versus CBI, Arnab Goswami versus the State of Maharashtra and also the State of Punjab versus Devinder Singh Bhullar to support his contentions.

Another counsel for Naidu and senior Supreme Court advocate Siddarth Luthra argued that under Section 17 A of the PC Act, no police officer should conduct an inquiry into any offence allegedly committed by a public servant without prior approval.

State CID’s counsel Mukul Rohatgi contended that the impugned proceedings could not be quashed when the investigation was at its nascent stage and that a huge scam was unearthed. An FIR was registered and in the course of inquiry and the petitioner (Naidu) was added as an accused on September 7, 2023, he noted.

Counsel argued that Section 17 A of the PC Act was not a bar for the police to conduct an inquiry for the reason that the petitioner was the head of the government and was involved in a “calculated and deliberate scam” of about Rs 371 crore of public money, “misappropriating” money from the state exchequer. He contended that there was no need for prior sanction for an inquiry into the offences that occurred prior to July 26, 2018.

Another counsel for the CID, Ranjit Kumar, submitted various documents to the court to show that the entire transactions were not transparent.

The allegations against the petitioner, Chandrababu Naidu, were that he conspired with the other accused to misappropriate funds from the public exchequer for a project that could be executed at a cost of only Rs 110-130 crore. But a facade was created to show that it was worth Rs 3,300 crore. Accordingly, a work order was issued on a nomination basis. Of this, at least Rs 241 crore was misappropriated.