VIJAYAWADA: In some relief to TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu, the High Court of Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday issued an interim order to stay the hearing in the ACB Special Court on the APCID’s plea seeking Prisoner Transit (PT) warrant against the former chief minister in the Amaravati Inner Ring Road (IRR) case.
Posting hearing in the case on October 16, Justice K Suresh Reddy directed the ACB court not to issue any orders in the matter. The interim stay orders were issued after Advocate General S Sriram, appearing for the CID, submitted to the court in writing that they would not directly arrest the 73-year-old in the IRR case and that only a PT warrant was sought. Meanwhile, public prosecutor Dushyant Reddy, on behalf of the police department, filed a memo, stating that they will not arrest Naidu in the Angallu case until Thursday.
He added that they will also not seek a PT warrant in the court concerned. Subsequently, Justice Reddy posted a hearing in the Angallu violence case to October 12 (Thursday). It may be pointed out that Naidu had filed different petitions in the HC seeking anticipatory bail in both cases.
During the hearing, Naidu’s counsel, Siddharth Luthra and Dammalapati Srinivas, submitted to the court that the IRR case was registered in May 2022 and to date, no notice had been issued to the petitioner.
Stating that the APCID filed for a PT warrant against Naidu in the IRR case only after he was sent to judicial remand in the skill development corporation scam, they expressed concerns that police may arrest the TDP leader once again while hearing on the PT warrant is pending.
They further pointed out that if the ACB court grants the PT warrant, the anticipatory bail petition filed in the High Court would become redundant. Naidu’s counsel explained that as the HC had rejected to consider him to have been in deemed custody for both cases, they have filed a bail petition.
Accusing the State government of trying to frame Naidu in different cases to keep him behind bars, they submitted to the court that the petitioner was ready to cooperate with the investigation. They argued that hearing the prosecution’s version was not needed for seeking anticipatory bail.
On the other hand, Advocate General Sriram and special public prosecutor Vivekananda submitted to the court that they had filed a counter in the previous bail petitions and that there has been no change since then. “Petition for a PT warrant has been pending before the ACB court since the last month. The petitioner’s counsel has filed a plea seeking Right to Audience in the plea. Naidu’s anticipatory bail petition in the AP Fibernet case, too, has been rejected,” he pointed out.
The advocate general further argued that if protection is provided to the petitioner, it will be in contrast to earlier orders, hence there was no need for an interim stay order against his arrests. He said they will not seek police custody of Naidu till the High Court gives its verdict on the bail petitions and urged Justice Reddy to allow the ACB court to hear the PT warrant petition. Damalapati Srinivas intervened and said since the PT warrant petition is pending, an interim stay for four to five days will not matter.
Fibernet case: PT warrant plea in ACB court today
The ACB Special Court in Vijayawada adjourned the hearing in CID’s plea seeking PT warrant petition against Naidu in the AP Fibernet case to Thursday. However, Naidu’s counsel requested judge BSV Himabindu to exercise the Right of Audience which the CID counsel opposed. Right of audience, in common law, is defined as the right of a lawyer to appear and conduct proceedings in court on behalf of his/her client