Naidu uncooperative during questioning: CID; ‘falsely implicated,’ says TDP chief

Naidu was produced in an Anti-Corruption Bureau court in Vijayawada on Sunday morning amid tight security, a day after being arrested in a case of alleged corruption.

Naidu has reportedly told the court that he has been falsely implicated in the case and that there were no “well-founded accusations” against him under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

His lawyer Siddarth Luthra told the court that prosecution has to obtain prior sanction of the governor even to initiate an inquiry against Naidu in the case as he was the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh when the alleged offence is said to have committed and only the governor is authorised to remove the chief minister from his office.

Seeking his judicial custody, CID in its remand report said that though the officials arranged a chopper to take him to Vijayawada from Nandyal where he was arrested, the Leader of the Opposition refused. The convoy was obstructed several times by TDP cadres which is an indication of intimidating law enforcement officials by virtue of his position.

“He was asked questions based on the note files, which form part of the evidence in this case diary. But to all the questions he was non-cooperative and replied vaguely that he could not recollect the facts. In this regard, the report was drafted in the presence of the mediators and duly attested by him," the report said.

The CID also claimed that after reaching its office, Naidu was questioned about his role in the offences in the presence of mediators. He was given breaks as per his request to consult a legal counsel, to meet the members of his family and have food and refreshments.

The CID has said that the TDP chief is not a flight risk.

The agency alleged that Naidu and his party TDP were the "end beneficiaries" of the misappropriated funds. The CID named G Subba Rao and K Lakshminarayana, former government employees, as A1 and A2 respectively in the case. According to the remand report submitted to the court, Naidu was named as Accused 37 (A37) in the case.

Naidu was arrested in a pre-dawn operation on Saturday at Nandyal for his alleged role in a multi-crore Skill Development Corporation scam, which involved officers knocking on the door of the caravan in which he was sleeping. The former chief minister was arrested by the CID around 6 am on Saturday from a marriage hall (outside which his caravan was parked) at Gnanapuram in Nandyal. The CID chief N Sanjay had said Naidu was the "principal conspirator" in the case.