Former Andhra CM Chandrababu Naidu Sent To 14-Day Judicial Custody In SDC Scam Case

Chandrababu Naidu was arrested on Saturday by the Andhra Pradesh CID in connection with the alleged Skill Development Corporation scam case.

Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh: A local court in Vijayawada on Sunday sent former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N Chandrababu Naidu to 14 days in judicial custody in connection with the alleged Skill Development Corporation scam case.

Reading the judgement, Vijayawada ACB court Judge Himabindu ordered the remand of Chandrababu Naidu to 14 days in judicial custody till September 23 and suggested to lodged the former CM to Rajahmundry central jail.

Earlier on Sunday morning, Naidu was produced before the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) court in Vijayawada in connection with an alleged Skill Development Corporation scam. According to the officials, the former CM was produced before the court within 24 hours of his arrest.

On Saturday, the Andhra Pradesh Criminal Investigation Department (CID) had arrested Chandrababu Naidu in connection with an alleged corruption case pertaining to the establishment of clusters of Centers of Excellence (CoEs) in the state of Andhra Pradesh, with a total estimated project value of Rs 3300 crore.

The agency officials claimed that the alleged fraud has caused a huge loss to the state government in excess of Rs 300 crores.

As per the CID, the investigation has revealed serious irregularities such as before any expenditure by private entities, the then state government provided an advance of Rs 371 crores, representing the entire 10 per cent commitment by the government.

Most of the money advanced by the government was diverted to shell companies through fake invoices, with no actual delivery or sale of the items mentioned in the invoices, CID officials said.

In its remand report, the CID has said that according to the investigation so far, the total amount spent by private entities on six skill development clusters is sourced exclusively from funds advanced by the Government of AP and AP Skill Development Center, totalling Rs 371 crores.

‘Political vendetta’

Meanwhile, the TDP dubbed Naidu’s arrest as “illegal” and a result of “political vendetta” against the party chief former CM.

“Chandrababu Naidu’s arrest was illegal. He has been arrested in what appears to be a case of a political vendetta,” TDP MP Ravindra Kumar had said on Saturday.

Kumar had also questioned why the veteran leader had not been presented before the Court in a timely manner as per the law. “It’s almost more than 20 hours since Chandra Babu Naidu was not presented before the Court. Why the CID is not producing him before the court? If they have filed a case and have prepared a charge sheet, why a delay in producing him,” the MP had asked.

“Only 10 per cent of the share was from the government in skill development centre rest of the 90 per cent funds were from Siemens company,” he said.

Former Andhra Pradesh minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader, Kondru Murali Mohan, on Saturday condemned the arrest of party chief and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, and called it a “dark day” for the people of the state.

“Today is a dark day for the people of Andhra Pradesh. A day when democracy was mocked. We condemn the arrest of Chandrababu Naidu,” Kondru Murali Mohan told news agency ANI.

(With ANI inputs)