Naidu in 14-day custody, 1st in a corruption case

HYDERABAD: For the first time in his 45-year political career, former chief minister and Telugu Desam supremo N. Chandrababu Naidu found himself inside a prison on corruption charges on Sunday, following his arrest on Saturday, when a court remanded him to 14-day judicial custody.

The Anti-Corruption Bureau special court in Vijayawada found prima facie evidence that Naidu had resorted to criminal conspiracy and breach of trust to embezzle public money in collusion with private parties while implementing the skill development centres project in the state.

Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, in a way, went into the annals of history, which his father and then Chief Minister, the late Dr Y.S. Rajashekar Reddy, could not, by establishing prima facie evidence and securing judicial remand for his arch-rival. Naidu faced about 25 cases of a serious nature but a majority did not go beyond the investigation stage, while courts dismissed some others.

The Special Investigation Team of the AP Criminal Investigation Department headed by deputy inspector general K. Raghuram Reddy arrested Naidu in Nandyal on Saturday on the charge of being the prime conspirator in the ‘skill scam’, in which different investigating agencies found that at least Rs 241 crore was siphoned off through shell companies.

After a prolonged hearing that started around 6 am on Sunday and went on till 2 pm, the Third Additional Judge B. Satya Venkata Hima Bindu dismissed the contentions of Naidu’s counsel that the arrest required prior approval of the Governor and that the charges of criminal conspiracy and breach of trust do not apply in his case.

The TD chief, whose wedding anniversary fell on Sunday, was visibly shattered following the pronouncement of the order in the court hall at around 7 pm, five hours after the arguments were concluded and judgment was reserved. His wife Bhuvaneswari and son Lokesh were present.

He was taken to the Rajamahendravaram central prison in his own convoy. Naidu, sporting a long face, waved his signature ‘V’ to followers and got into the car. The CID sought Naidu’s custody on which the court asked it to file a counter.

Naidu’s legal team filed a petition seeking house arrest and treating it as judicial remand and another seeking a special cell with additional facilities. The court granted him home food, medicines and a special cell, and posted other appeals for Monday. Naidu’s counsel will also appeal against the judicial remand in the AP High Court on Monday.

Condemning the arrest, the TD called for a statewide bandh on Monday, while police clamped Section 144 prohibitory orders across the state and banned rallies and protest programmes. Sporadic incidents of burning of effigies and tyres to disrupt traffic on national highways were reported.

The YSR Congress, on the other hand, appealed to its cadre not to celebrate Naidu’s arrest which, it said, was a legal issue.

The judicial remand of Naidu came as a shot in the arm for the ruling YSR Congress because the former always got away with the argument that despite his political rivals filing scores of cases, he remained unscathed.

Dr Rajashekar Reddy and Jagan Mohan Reddy had made several attempts to file graft cases against Naidu and secure his conviction, but he stalled the investigation by obtaining court orders.

“Naidu earlier claimed innocence stating that the courts did not entertain charges against him. Going by the same logic, now it is proved that he indulged in corruption,” said party general secretary Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy.