VIJAYAWADA: A team of the AP Crime Investigation Department was on the lookout for Telugu Desam national general secretary Nara Lokesh in New Delhi on Friday to serve a ‘notice’ seeking his presence to probe irregularities in the alignment of Amaravati Inner Ring Road. Perceptions strengthened that the CID is aiming to arrest Lokesh.
A single judge bench of Justice Suresh Reddy held a hearing in this case here on Friday. On behalf of the AP-CID, Advocate-General S. Sriram told the court that they would serve a notice under Section 41-A of CrPC to Lokesh, asking him to attend the probe.
“So far, he has not been arrested,” he said and informed the court that Lokesh was booked under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and also under sections of IPC, etc. He assured the court that the investigation officer in the case would follow norms while inquiring into the irregularities vis-à-vis Lokesh.”
The court asked Lokesh’s counsel Dammalapati Srinivas whether he was worried about a likely arrest. “If so, you can approach the court,” it said and asked counsel to ensure his client’s cooperation with the AP-CID in its probe of the case.
Counsel, expressing concern over the arrest of Lokesh, urged the court to impose certain norms like giving adequate time to Lokesh to appear before the AP-CID for the probe from the time of serving a notice to him. “It would be difficult for him to attend the probe at short notice.”
After hearing both parties, the court said that as the AP-CID wanted to serve notice on Lokesh under Section 41-A of CrPC and comply with the norms to probe him in the case, there was no need for further hearing in the case. It disposed of the petition.
Notably, the AP-CID booked a case with crime No. 16/2022, with Chandrababu Naidu and others as the accused. Recently, it filed a memo in the ACB court by including the names of Lokesh as accused 14 in the case. This forced him to file an anticipatory bail in the AP High Court to avoid his arrest.
The accused in this case allegedly conspired to provide undue enrichment to the Narayana Group of Institutions, the Lingamaneni Group of Companies, the M/s Ramakrishna Housing Pvt Ltd, the M/s Heritage Foods and others at the cost of the public exchequer, and also by abusing their official position to make changes in the alignment of Amaravati IRR.
Lokesh has been camping in New Delhi to garner support for his father Chandrababu Naidu from the national parties, claiming that Naidu was illegally arrested in the AP skill development scam. He prompted the party MPs to raise the issue before Parliament and led a delegation of party MPs to meet President Droupadi Murmu and seek her intervention.
It is suspected that Lokesh, by continuing his stay in Delhi for more days, might be trying to avoid responding to the moves against him by the AP-CID.
In another case of the AP skill development scam, wherein Lokesh moved the HC seeking anticipatory bail, the court granted relief by asking the AP-CID not to arrest him until October 4 and posted the next hearing on the same day.
As the Supreme Court will be hearing a plea from Naidu on the AP High Court’s earlier order of dismissing his FIR quash petition in the AP skill development scam on October 3, the AP High Court deferred the Lokesh case for hearing to October 4.
