New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday denied interim bail to former Andhra Pradesh chief minister and TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu and said it will pronounce its verdict on his plea challenging the high court order refusing to quash the FIR against him in the Skill Development Corporation scam case.
A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi, which reserved its verdict on the TDP leader’s petition, did not accept the prayer of senior advocate Harish Salve, who sought interim bail for Naidu, 73, citing his age and the period of 40 days that he has spent in custody.
“I have a request for interim bail. Your Lordships may consider releasing him. If you eventually rule against him, he can go back. In the 2015-16 inquiry, the government’s lament was that nothing came of it. Now, in 2021, they are desperately grasping at straws,” Salve said, reaffirming that Naidu was falsely implicated in the case.
Senior Advocate Sidharth Luthra, also representing Naidu, too sought interim bail for the former chief minister.
Senior advocate Ranjit Kumar, appearing for the Andhra Pradesh government, opposed Salve and Luthra’s request for relief to Naidu, saying his bail application was pending before the trial court which will consider it.
The bench told Luthra it has heard the main matter related to a challenge to the high court order and applicability of section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act in the case against Naidu, and was reserving the judgement.
Section 17A was introduced by an amendment to the PC Act with effect from July 26, 2018. The provision stipulates a mandatory requirement for a police officer to seek prior approval from the competent authority for conducting any enquiry or inquiry or investigation into any offence alleged to have been committed by a public servant under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Naidu has contended the FIR against him was registered without obtaining the prior approval of the competent authority in the Skill Development Corporation scam case, and therefore his arrest was illegal.
The top court also listed for Friday Naidu’s separate plea for anticipatory bail in the FiberNet case.
The FiberNet case relates to alleged tender manipulation in allotting a work order under Phase-1 of the AP FiberNet Project involving Rs 330 crore to a favoured company.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Andhra Pradesh police has alleged irregularities in the project right from awarding the tender to completion of the work, causing a huge loss to the state exchequer.
Naidu was arrested on September 9 for allegedly misappropriating funds from the Skill Development Corporation when he was the chief minister in 2015, causing a purported loss of Rs 371 crore to the state exchequer. He is under judicial remand in the Rajamahendravaram central prison.
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