Chandrababu Naidu moves Supreme Court against Andhra Pradesh HC order in skill development program case

Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday moved the Supreme Court challenging an order of the Andhra Pradesh High Court refusing to quash the First Information Report (FIR) against him in the Andhra Pradesh skill development program case.

Justice K Sreenivasa Reddy on Friday dismissed his plea saying that his plea seeking quashing of the FIR registered against him was devoid of merit and it was not inclined to interfere at this stage when the investigation is ongoing. The High Court had further said that criminal proceedings ought not to be scuttled at the initial stage of investigation and quashing of an FIR should be an exception rather than the rule.

Naidu was on Friday remanded to two-day CID custody in the Andhra Pradesh skill development program case by a Vijayawada court and he is being questioned by the CID at the Rajamahendravaram Central Prison, where the former Chief Minister is currently lodged.

CID has alleged that the government funds intended for skill development project were misappropriated and diverted into various shell companies using fraudulent invoices and the then Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Naidu played a key role in the misappropriation of funds resulting in a purported loss of over 300 crore to the state exchequer.

Earlier, the Vijayawada court had remanded the TDP chief to 14 days of judicial custody in the case, saying that a prima facie case of cheating, criminal breach of trust, forgery and corruption was made against the former Andhra Pradesh chief minister. The special court, while remanding him to judicial custody, had further said that the material available on record prima facie made out a case against him for offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) as well as the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act.

Naidu was arrested in the Andhra Pradesh skill development program case on September 9.