VIJAYAWADA: The High Court of Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday granted anticipatory bail to TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu in three cases filed by the Crime Investigation Department (APCID). The cases pertain to the alleged irregularities in the alignment of the proposed Amaravati Inner Ring Road (IRR), the previous TDP government’s liquor and sand policies.
Anticipatory bail was also granted to former excise minister Kollu Ravindra and former excise commissioner Srinaresh in the liquor scam case.The trio were asked to surrender before the investigating officer concerned within one week and furnish a personal bond for Rs 1 lakh each with two sureties.
Besides directing them to cooperate with the investigation, the court has asked the trio to appear before the investigating officer whenever their presence is required and abstain from making any public comments related to the case. They will be given a minimum of 48 hours to make an appearance, when required.
Justice T Mallikarjuna Rao, in his order, explicitly clarified that the observations made are preliminary and pertain solely to the decision on the present application without indicating a stance on the merits of the case.
The probe agency has been affirmed to have the freedom to investigate without being influenced by the observations in this order.Based on a complaint filed by AP Beverages Corporation Limited managing director Vasudev Reddy, the CID had registered a case against the petitioners, alleging that the decision of the previous government to remove privilege fee for a license had resulted in a huge loss to the exchequer.
On receiving a complaint from AP Mineral Development Corporation (APMDC) vice-chairman and MD VG Venkata Reddy, who is also the director of State Mines and Geology Department, the CID had registered a case against Naidu in connection with the alleged irregularities in the Free Sand Policy introduced by the previous government in 2016.
In the case pertaining to the Amaravati IRR, Naidu has been accused of conspiring to favour the Narayana Group of Institutions, Lingamaneni Group of Companies, Rama Krishna Housing and Heritage Foods. Naidu has also been accused of residing in a house owned by Lingamaneni Ramesh near Undavalli without paying rent. This has been alleged to be an explicit quid pro quo arrangement related to the IRR design, causing wrongful loss to farmers whose land was affected by the manipulated alignment.
Referring to the memo filed by the special public prosecutor stating that TDP general secretary and Naidu’s son Nara Lokesh had passed threatening remarks to intimidate witnesses and officials, Justice Rao said the fate of granting anticipatory bail to the petitioner should not be decided on the statement made by his son.