VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Thursday set August 10 as the date for the final hearing of the anticipatory bail petitions of the accused in the alleged Amaravati assigned lands scam. The accused in the scam include former minister P Narayana, his close relatives and benamis.
Announcing it, Justice K Suresh Reddy made it clear that there will be no more adjournments in the case. The interim anticipatory bail given to Narayana in view of his ill-health, has been extended till August 10.
In 2022, Narayana approached the High Court seeking anticipatory bail in the Amaravati-assigned land scam case, registered by CID in 2020. His close relatives and benamis had also filed petitions in the court seeking the dismissal of the case registered against them.
Taking into consideration that Narayana was suffering from ill health and to allow him to go abroad for surgery for cancer, the court had given him interim anticipatory bail. With regard to petitions of his relatives, the court directed the CID to follow Section 41A of CrPC. Subsequently, the case hearing was adjourned with the petitioners’ counsel seeking adjournments for one reason or another.
When the case came up for hearing again, the petitioners’ counsel yet again tried for adjournment citing the absence of Supreme Court senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, who is arguing the case. However, Additional Advocate General Ponnavolu Sudhakar Reddy intervened and opposed it. He said already several adjournments were sought in the case. In response, Narayana’s counsel Dammalapati Srinivas said the CID had also sought adjournments in equal numbers in the case.