The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) court on Thursday, September 21, deferred its judgement regarding the Crime Investigation Department (CID) seeking five-day police custody of Telugu Desam Party chief and former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu. The judgement will be given on Friday. The TDP president has been arrested in the alleged Skill Development case, in which Rs 371 crores have been allegedly swindled. The CID has sought custody to interrogate Naidu further on his role in the alleged scam.
Earlier on Wednesday, the ACB court deferred its judgment to Thursday after it heard the arguments for about three and half hours. Senior Supreme Court Advocates Sidharth Luthra and Sidharth Agarwal argued on behalf of Naidu. They questioned why the CID decided to apply for police custody a day after the court had remanded him for judicial custody. Naidu’s counsel also alleged that the case was politically motivated. Additional Advocate General Ponnavolu Sudhakar Reddy, appearing for the CID, said that Naidu was arrested after obtaining strong evidence of his involvement in the case. He said they wanted Naidu’s custody to investigate further into the Rs 371 crores scam.
Naidu was arrested by the CID on September 9. He has been remanded at the Rajahmundry Central Jail for 14 days since September 10. Naidu subsequently petitioned at the ACB court for house arrest on the grounds of security. The court, however, had denied his request and reportedly said that Naidu would be safe under the protection of the prison.
On Wednesday the court also postponed the hearing of Naidu's bail petition regarding the Inner Ring Road scam until September 26.