VIJAYAWADA: The State government on Wednesday informed the Andhra Pradesh High Court that it does not have any objection to hand over the probe into the AP State Skill Development Corporation (APSSDC) case to the Central Bureau of Investigation or Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Principal Secretary (Home) Harish Kumar Gupta filed a counter expressing the State government’s readiness to hand over the probe to the CBI before the bench of Justice U Durgaprasad Rao and Justice M Kiranmayee during the hearing of the plea filed by former MP Undavalli Arun Kumar seeking a CBI probe into the APSSDC case.
The government said there are several complications in the APSSDC case and money laundering was also involved as per its investigation. The AP Crime Investigation Department had initiated a probe into the AP FiberNet project and also the assigned lands case in 2020 itself, and sought a CBI probe into them. The CBI can investigate any case in the State as per the Delhi Police Establishment Act, the government said and informed the court it would abide by the orders of the court on the petition filed by the former MP.
Meanwhile, Undavalli’s counsel KG Krishna Murthy said some of the respondents had refused to accept the notices issued by the court, while notices to some others had returned due to the absence of the inmates or locked doors of the houses. The counsel sought permission from the court to serve the notices through newspaper advertisements or WhatsApp messages. The bench posted the matter for further hearing after two weeks.